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PETROLEUM 

^ AND 

PETROLEUM WELLS. 



WHAT PETROLEUM IS, TTHERE IT IS FOUND, AND WHAT IT 

IS USED FOR ; WHERE TO SINK PETROLEUM 

WELLS, AND HOW TO SINK THEM. 



vriTH 



A COMPLETE GUIDE BOOK 

AND 

DESCRIPTION OF THE OIL REGIONS 

OP 

PENNSYLVANIA, WEST VIRGINIA, KENTUCKY AND OHIO. 



A(^^ By J. H. A. BONE. 



SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED. 

PHILADELPHIA 
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 

1865. 






31 \ 



^1 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by 

J. H. A. BONE, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
Northern District of Ohio. 



cJ^ 






/ 



INTRODUCTION, 



In the present volume the author has at- 
tempted to supply a want widely felt and fre- 
quently expressed — that of a popular handbook 
on the subject of .petroleum and petroleum 
enterprises. So far as he is aware, there is no 
work now before the public that aims to give, 
what is here attempted, a clear and systematic 
account of the origin, description, and history 
of petroleum; its distribution over the globe ; 
the recent discovery of its existence in the 
United States, with a complete history of petro- 
leum enterprise in this country from its in- 
ception; the method of working, and a minute 
and accurate account of the difterent reo-ions 
of its production, forming at once a history, a 

fiii) 



IV INTRODUCTION. 

practical treatise, and a guide-book, embody- 
ing everything important to know in reference 
to petroleum and the oil regions, not only of 
Pennsylvania, but of the other oil producing 
States. 

The facts contained in this volume have been 
obtained by thorough and careful personal 
observation, and as the author has no " axe to 
grind," every effort has been made to produce 
a reliable work. It may be proper to say, that 
some portions of the book have appeared in 
substance in journals with which the author 
is connected. 

May, 1865. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 
Petroleum, its Description and History — how it is 

formed — and where it is found.. 7 

The History of Petroleum on Oil Creek 19 

How Oil Wells are Bored and Worked 33 

The Pennsylvania Oil Region — The Principal Oil 

Localities — and how to reach them 47 

A Trip Down Oil Creek — Meadville to Shaeffer's 

Farm, via Corry M 

Down Oil Creek to Oil City 66 

Cherry Run 83 

Cherry Tree Run, Weikel Run, Cornplanter Run, Reed 

Run, and Two Mile Run 88 

The Alleghany River, with Hickory, Tionesta, Hem- 
lock, Pithole, and other Tributary Creeks 92 

(v) 



VI CONTENTS. 

Page 
French Creek, Sugar Creek, and other Oil Localities .. 112 

Other Pennsylvania Oil Territory 118 

The West Virginia Oil Region 120 

Southern Ohio Oil Region 130 

Northern and Eastern Ohio Oil Regions 135 

The Oil Regions of Kentucky 137 

Oil in other States 142 

Investments in Oil Wells 144 



PETROLEUM 

AXD 

PETEOLEUM WELLS. 



PETROLEUM, ITS DESCEIPTIO:sr AND 

HISTOET. — HOW IT IS FOEMED 

AND WHEEE IT IS FOUND. 



What Petroleum is, where it is to be found, 
and what are the causes of its formation, are 
subjects now engaging the attention of the civil- 
ized world, and to neither of these questions 
have perfectly satisfactory answers yet been 
given. The name itself is from the Jjaim petra, 
a rock, and oleum, oil, being in fact " rock oil," 
deriving its name from being found in the rocks, 
or oozing from them. In its natural state its 
composition is very indefinite, consisting of various 
oily hydro-carbons, holding in solution paraffine 
and solid bitumen, or asphaltum. In some sci- 
entific works the fluid petroleum is described 

(7) 



8 PETROLEUM, ITS 

under the name '^ naphtha oil/' whilst that 
having a large proportion of asphaltum, is 
known as ^' bitumen." The latter is of compara- 
tively little value, but the fluid petroleum, since 
the discovery of its manifold and important 
uses, has risen to be one of the most prominent 
staples. The lighter oil, cleansed and purified, 
has come into almost universal request as an 
illuminator, surpassing all others, except gas, 
in brilliancy, and also possessing the merit of 
cheapness. The secret of producing gas itself, 
equal in illuminating power to the best coal gas, 
produced with much greater ease and at less 
expense, has been discovered and put into prac- 
tice; whilst, to show the capabilities of petro- 
leum as an illuminator, the solid residuum of the 
refining process is made into parafiine candles. 
As a lubricator for wheels and machinery the 
heavier qualities of petroleum have come into 
general tise. Paint oils and varnish are made 
from it, and the benzine is used as a substitute 
for turpentine. Petrolized soap is a favorite 
toilet article. The most beautiful and durable 
colors and shades now in wear are obtained from 
the waste petroleum after refining. It has been 
used with success as a substitute for fish oil in 
tanning. For generations it has proved a val- 
uable medicine, applied both externally and inter- 
nally. In fact, there seems to be no limit to its 



DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY. 9 

usefulness, for new applications of it are fre- 
quently discovered. 

Petroleum, in one form or another, has been 
known in all ages, and in nearly all parts of the 
world, although many of its uses are the dis- 
coveries of the past few years. It is mentioned 
by the ancient Greeks and Eomans, being known 
to the latter under the name of "bitumen." At 
Zante, one of the Ionian Islands, is an oil spring, 
still flowing, which was mentioned by Herodotus, 
more than two thousand years ago. In Sicily 
the ancient inhabitants burned petroleum in 
their lamps instead of fish oil. In the north of 
Italy it has for nearly two centuries furnished 
material for lighting the streets of Genoa and 
Parma. On the shores of the Caspian Sea, at 
Bakoo, are extraordinary manifestations of petro- 
leum oil and gas. These extend over a tract 
of country about twenty-five miles in length, 
and about half a mile wide, in strata of a porous, 
argillaceous sandstone, belonging to the tertiary 
period. In the vicinity are hills of volcanic 
rocks, through which springs of the heavier 
sort of petroleum flow. Open wells, from six- 
teen to twenty feet deep, are dug, and in these 
the oil gathers as it oozes from the strata. A 
large amount is annually gathered and distri- 
buted over Persia, where it is exclusively used 
for illuminating purposes, and for the sacred 



10 PETROLEUM, ITS 

fires. The Eangoon district, on the Irrawaddy, 
is also famous for its large product of rock oil, 
and for centuries the whole Bur man empire has 
been supplied with oil from this source. The 
annual yield of petroleum from this district is 
said to be more than 400,000 hogsheads, or about 
two thirds of the export from New York for 
1864. The number of wells is 520. The natives 
use the oil as a medicine, burn it in their lamps, 
and grease timber with it to prevent the destruc- 
tive operations of insects. Some of the Burmese 
oil has been sent to England and used in the 
manufacture of paraffine candles. In consistency 
it resembles the heavy lubricating oils of Penn- 
sylvania and Ohio, whilst its color, of a greenish 
brown, is more like that of the lighter Pennsyl- 
vania oil. Petroleum is frequently found in the 
neighborhood of volcanoes. Around the volcanic 
isles of Cape Yerde it is seen floating on the 
water; and to the south of Yesuvius a spring of 
it rises through the sea. 

But it is in America that the largest deposits 
of liquid petroleum are found. Besides the prin- 
cipal reservoirs in Northwestern Pennsylvania, 
there are other deposits, the full value of which 
have not yet been ascertained, in Southwestern 
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Western Yirginia, Kentucky, 
New York, Canada, Kansas, and California. In- 
dications of its existence have also been disco- 



DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY. 11 

vered in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, 
and experiments are in progress to test the value 
and extent of the deposits. 

The causes of formation of petroleum, and its 
location in the rocks, are questions that have as 
yet received no satisfactory solution. According 
to some geologists the oil originates in the coal 
beds, from which it is expelled by pressure, whilst 
others assert that the coal is formed from the oil, 
instead of the oil from the coal. In support of 
both of these theories the general resemblance 
of petroleum to the oil obtained from the distil- 
lation of coal is adduced, although there are 
some minor points of difference. But the exist- 
ence of petroleum does not depend on the exist- 
ence of coal in the same locality ; on the con- 
trary, the most productive oil districts are re- 
moved from the coal fields. In the Pennsylvania 
oil region the wells are entirely outside of the 
coal field, and so remote from it that there can 
scarcely be any connection between the oil and 
coal beds. The strata in which the oil is found 
dip south, and pass below the coal measures from 
five hundred to one thousand feet, the nearest 
coal bed to the more northern oil wells capping 
the highest hills about thirty miles distant. 

Other geologists attribute the production of 
the oil to the slow distillation of animal or vege- 
table matter overwhelmed by ancient floods, and 



12 PETROLEUM, ITS 

imj)ri8oned in the rocks formed from the sand or 
mud in which the organic remains were buried. 
This theory presupposes an immense deposit of 
animal or vegetable matter, as the yield of oil 
has already been very large, and but a small 
portion of the deposit has been developed as yet. 
Another theory accounts for its production by 
volcanic agencies, but it is not by any means 
confined to the volcanic rocks. Some are dis- 
posed to look on it as a formation of by-gone 
ages, by processes long since terminated, whilst 
others, with a belief in the doctrine that Nature 
never stops in her work, assert that the process 
of formation is still going on, and that the sup- 
ply is inexhaustible. An apparent confirmation 
of this opinion is found in the fact that the wells 
of Bakoo and Eangoon are as productive now as 
they were centuries ago. Single wells have dried 
up, but new ones have been sunk, and the pro- 
duct of the district suffers no diminution. This 
fact should allay the fears of those w^ho are ap- 
prehensive that the American oil regions will 
soon be exhausted. 

Petroleum is found in different parts of the 
world in all the stratified rocks, and in the volcanic 
and metamorphic formations. It is sometimes 
traced to beds of lignite, and sometimes its source 
cannot be discovered. In the United States and 
Canada the sandstones are the most productive 



DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY. 13 

of oil. In the PennsTlvania oil region the hills 
are capped with conglomerate, lying in geolo- 
gical succession next below the coal measures. 
Through this the well is bored, passing through 
alternating layers of shale and sandstone, and 
terminating in sandstone, where cavities exist, 
frequently filled with oil, gas, and salt water. 
The dip of the strata in Is'orth western Pennsyl- 
vania is nearly south. In Ohio it is east of south. 
The most productive oil bearing sandstone crops 
out in Ohio a few miles west of Cleveland, and 
dips gently towards the Alleghany Eiver. des- 
cending more rapidly as it gets farther south. 
In some parts of Oil Creek, and on the Alleghany, 
there are appearances of a slight upheaval, form- 
ing cracks and fissures in the rocks, and it is 
here that many borers look most hopefully for 
oil in large quantities. According to Prof Evans, 
of Marietta, who has given the matter much 
study, the oil is contained in cavities or fissures 
in the rocks, in connection with both water and 
gas. These are arranged, of course, according 
to their weight, the water at the bottom, the oil 
floating thereon, and the gas (often strongly com- 
pressed) filling the upper part of the cavity. If 
such a cavity runs obliquely from above down- 
ward, a well, when bored, may strike either the 
water or the oil, or it may enter the gas cham- 
bers. In the first two cases, if the ccas be com- 



14 PETROLEUM, ITS 

pressed, as it usually is, there will be a spouting 
well — the water or oil, or both together, being 
thrown out of the mouth of the boring. When 
the tension of the gas is exhausted, resort must 
be had to pumping, until the cavity is pumped 
out. But in some cases a series of cavities com- 
municate by small openings or crevices, in which 
case a well may flow intermittently for a long 
time, as it is replenished by percolation through 
these channels. It is not uncommon for intermit- 
tent wells to throw out at first 300 or 400 barrels 
a day, or to yield, in all, 20,000 bbls. They some- 
times run two or three years before exhaustion. 
When there is little or no gas, or where, from 
the gas chamber being tapped, the gas is lost, 
pumping has to be resorted to from the first. 
Oil wells commonly vary in depth from 100 to 
800 feet. Oil coming to the surface in springs is 
not a reliable sign of oil cavities in the imme- 
diate neighborhood, for it is often carried a long 
distance by the current of the subterranean 
streamlets by which the springs are fed. 

The oil of different districts varies consider- 
ably in specific gravity, and consequently in 
value. The lighter oils are more valuable for 
the purpose of illumination, and the heavier for 
lubricators. The Oil Creek petroleum is usually 
about 46° by Baume's hydrometer, being the 
lightest oil found. At some of the wells it in- 



DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY. 15 

creases in density to 38°. At Tidioute, on the 
upper Allegheny, the Economite well oil ranges 
about 43°. At Franklin the range is from 33° 
to 36°, and on French Creek and Sugar Creek 
the oil is also heavy, and is valuable as a lubrica- 
tor. The AYest Yiro-inia oil averao;es about 38°. 
The heaviest oil is found at Mecca, Ohio, the den- 
sity being 26° to 27°, and the oil so thick that it 
Tvill not flow in very cold weather. It bears a 
high price from its value as a lubricator. The 
oil obtained at Liverpool, Ohio, is of a similar 
character. The heavy oils are usually found 
in comparatively shallow wells, ranging from 
seventy to one hundred and eighty feet, whilst 
the lighter are commonly found several hundred 
feet below. The '-third sand rock" of the Ven- 
ango county system, in which the largest de- 
posits of light oil are found, lies at a depth 
rano-ino; from three hundred to twelve hundred 
feet. The majority of productive wells that 
have reached the third sand rock, range from 
four hundred to six hundred feet deep. 

The yield of wells producing heavy, or lubri- 
cating oil. is generally much less than the aver- 
acre of successful wells of lio-hter oil. but, on the 
other hand, the value of the oil is much greater. 
A five barrel well of Mecca oil is equivalent in 
value to at least a twenty barrel well on Oil 
Creek. This fact must be borne in mind when 



16 PETROLEUM, ITS 

comparing the value of wells in different loca- 
lities. The "flowing wells" of large capacity 
run the lighter grades of oil, the heavy oils re- 
quiring to be pumped. 

With regard to the condition of surface be^ 
neath which oil is most likely to be found in 
paying quantities, there is as much difference of 
opinion as there is in relation to the formation 
of the oil. In some places on Oil Creek, for in- 
stance, wells sunk on the flat bottom land are 
most productive, and those sunk in the side hill, 
or near it, find but little oil, whilst on the next 
tract the reverse of this becomes the rule. In 
and near Cherry Eun several wells have been 
sunk far up the steep bluffs, and have proved 
successful. There appears to be no rule in the 
matter without a large number of exceptions. 

One of the most tenable theories in regard to 
the production and distribution of petroleum in 
what now constitutes the principal field of its 
production in America, is that it is produced from 
the black or bituminous shale underlying the 
sandstone which is next beneath the coal meas- 
ures. This bituminous shale extends consider- 
ably beyond the coal fields, cropping out on the 
shore of Lake Erie from near Sandusky Bay 
into the State of New York. Having less dip 
there than further towards the interior of the 
basin, it passes under the lake and into Canada. 



DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY. 17 

Its western limit is a line passing from Lake Erie 
near Sandusky, Ohio, through Monroeville to 
Columbus and thence to the Ohio Eiver, which 
it crosses between Portsmouth and Maysville. 
Exposure to the atmosphere robs the shale of 
some of its peculiar characteristics, the oil eva- 
porating and leaving the stone of less weight 
and a lighter color ; but by digging to a little 
depth it will be found of a brownish black color, 
emitting an odor of bitumen when rubbed or 
slightly heated, and will flame when placed in 
the fire. 

From this bituminous shale the oil is distilled 
by the heat of the earth, and forced upwards 
into the substance of the sandstone, or through 
the cracks and fissures, by the pressure of the 
gas evolved in the process of distillation. The 
deeper into the earth the stratum of shale des- 
cends, the greater the heat, and the more com- 
plete the distillation. Hence, the oil found ex- 
uding from the rock, or obtained by shallow 
borings along or near the line of outcrop, is of 
a heavy character, frequently resembling tar, 
whilst the deep wells of Pennsylvania and West 
Virginia yield a lighter oil. It follows, as a 
matter of course, that the nearer to the centre 
of the basin the greater the depth of the deposit; 
the heat is more intense, the distillation more 
thorough, and the yield of oil greater. It does 
2* B 



18 



PETROLEUM, ETC. 



not follow that the wells will have to be sunk 
to a corresponding depth, for the expansive 
force of the gas increases with the increased 
volume of oil, and forces it up whenever a 
fissure or disruption of the strata affords a 
passage. 



THE HISTOET OP PETEOLEUM ON 
OIL CEEEK. 



The existence of oil in the valley of Oil Creek, 
in Yenango County, Pennsylvania, has been 
known for a long period. The Indians, from 
time immemorial, resorted to the valley at stated 
seasons to gather the oil for medical purposes; 
and the work of procuring it was prefaced and 
concluded with dances and other ceremonies, 
the final proceeding being to set on fire the sur- 
face of the pools covered with oil, and dance 
around the flame. There are evidences of the 
probable use of the oil by a race anterior to the 
Indians of our own period, and probably cotem- 
porary with the mound builders of Ohio and the 
ancient miners of Lake Superior. In several 
parts of the Oil Creek valley, the early settlers 
found pits eighteen to twenty feet in depth, and 
from six to eight feet in diameter, carefully 
walled around with timber which the petrolized 
waters had preserved from decay, and in which 

(19) 



20 THE HISTORY OF PETROLEUM 

were found notched logs, which served as lad- 
ders. The Indians could give no account of 
these pits other than that they must have been 
dug by an earlier race, of a superior civilization, 
frequently alluded to in Indian traditions. Oil 
is still found in those pits, and from them, and 
from the surface of shallow pools, the Indians 
obtained their chief supply. It also bubbled up 
in mid stream in many places, and was obtained 
by throwing a blanket on the water, and, after 
it became saturated, squeezing the oil into the 
vessels prepared to receive it. The early settlers 
also used it as a medicine in cases of rheumatism, 
and it was frequently sold in druggists' shops 
for the same purpose, under the name of " Seneca 
Oil.^' An article in the ''Massachusetts Maga- 
zine'^ for July 1791, describes the oil springs in 
what was even then known as Oil Creek, and 
says that the American troops, in their marching 
that way, halted at the spring, collected the oil, 
and bathed their joints with it. This gave them 
great relief, and freed them immediately from 
the rheumatic complaints with which many of 
them were affected. The troops also drank freely 
of the waters, which operated as a gentle purge. 
In the year 1845, Mr. Lewis Peterson, Sen., of 
Tarentum, Alleghany County, Pa., brought to 
the Hope Cotton Factory, at Pittsburgh, a sam- 
ple, in a bottle, of what is now known as petro- 



ON OIL CREEK. 21 

leum. It came up with the salt water from his 
salt well at Tarentum, and gave him considerable 
trouble. Mr. Morrison Foster, then of Pitts- 
burgh, but now of Cleveland, in conjunction with 
the manager of the spinning department of the 
mill, Mr. David Anderson, experimented with 
the oil. and soon found that by a certain process 
it could be combined with sperm oil, in such a 
way as to form a better lubricator for the finest 
cotton spindles than the best sperm oil, which 
alone could previously be used for that purpose. 
The mixture cost about seventy' cents per gallon, 
whilst the sperm oil alone cost one dollar and 
thirty cents. The saving was so great, in one of 
the heavy items of expense in a large cotton 
factory, that a contract was entered into with 
Mr. Peterson, by which the latter was to supply 
two barrels per week, and for ten years this oil 
continued to be used at the Hope Cotton Factory, 
unknown to any but the proprietors. 

This is believed to have been the first practical 
use to which Petroleum was put in America. A 
few years afterwards Mr. Kier, who also had 
saltwells at Tarentum, and was troubled, like 
Mr. Peterson, by the oil that came up with the 
water, sent some of the oil to Prof. Booth, of 
Philadelphia, for analyzation. Acting on the 
advice of Prof Booth, Mr. Kier took some of 
the oil to Xew York and experimented with it 



25:2 THE HISTORY OF PETROLEUM 

as a solvent for gutta percha. Failing in this, 
he was induced by Prof. Booth to try its merits 
as an illuminator, and succeeded in refining it so 
that it was used as ''Carbon OiF' in Pittsburgh 
from 1850 to 1855, meeting with a sale that re- 
quired all the oil to be obtained from the salt- 
wells of Tarentum to supply the demand. 

About twelve years ago some attention was 
directed in different parts of the world to the 
subject of petroleum, or rock oil, and search was 
made for it in various directions. Among other 
places, Oil Creek became the object of attention, 
and a company was formed to^ procure oil from 
an oil spring, the existence of which had become 
known to a large number of persons. This com- 
pany, which was organized by Messrs. Eveleth 
and Bissell, of New York, was known as the 
Pennsylvania Kock Oil Company, Prof Silliman 
being at its head. Their operations were con- 
fined to collecting the surface oil, until, in 1858, 
Col. E. L. Drake, of New Haven, Connecticut, 
was engaged to visit the valley, and set about 
sinking a well on Watson's Flats, about a mile 
and a half below Titusville. The first well was 
unsuccessful, and another was sunk. This was a 
success. The drill struck an oil cavity at a depth 
of seventy-one feet, and, on the tools being with- 
drawn, the oil rose to within five inches of the sur- 
face. It was pumped off, and yielded at first four 



ON OIL CREEK. 23 

hundred, and afterwards a thousand gallons of 
oil per day. 

As may be imagined, the excitement in the 
valley was very great. Every one that held 
land in the vicinity of the Drake well made pre- 
parations for sinking wells on his own account, 
or leased to others a right to sink wells, reserv- 
ing to himself a royalty of from one-eighth to 
one-quarter the oil. Derricks were hastily put 
up, and " spring-poles" fixed, all of the early 
wells being sunk by hand. Some of the wells 
were successful, but by far the larger portion 
obtained no oil at all, or in such small quantities 
as to be unremunerative. The demand was small, 
the use to which the oil was put being as yet 
very limited. Still, several of the adventurers 
were making fair wages, when the discovery of 
flowing wells revolutionized matters. Pumping 
oil at the rate of five to twenty barrels a day 
was a discouraging process when, at another 
well, the oil was running spontaneously as many 
hundreds as the others were pumping single bar- 
rels. The glut of the market, caused by the 
flowing wells, and the consequent depression in 
prices, rendered the continuance in operation of 
the pumping wells a losing speculation, and 
nearly all of them were abandoned. The lessees 
fled in despair, in many instances leaving their 
machinery behind them, and not stopping to sur- 



24 THE HISTORY OF PETROLEUM 

render their leases. Some of the abandoned 
wells have since been successfully worked, and 
more would be, but from the impossibility of 
getting at the holders of the old leases, and the 
fear to commence operations lest, at an unsea- 
sonable moment, the lessees should return. 

The first flowing well ever struck was on the 
McElhinney or Funk Farm, and was known as 
the Funk Well. Funk was a poor man when 
the well was sunk. It was struck June, 1861, 
and commenced flowing, to the astonishment of 
all the oil borers in the neighborhood, at the 
rate of two hundred and fifty barrels a day. 
Such a prodigal supply of grease upset all calcu- 
lations, but it was confidently predicted that the 
supply would soon cease. It was an " Oil Creek 
humbug,^^ and those who had no direct interest 
in the well looked day after day to see the stream 
stop. But, like the old woman who sat down 
by the river side to let the water run itself out 
that she might cross dryshod, they waited in 
vain. The oil continued flowing with but little 
variation for fifteen months, and then stopped, 
but not before Funk became a very rich man. 

But, long before the Funk had given out, the 
wonder in regard to it was overshadowed by a 
new sensation. Down on the Tarr Farm the 
Phillips Well burst forth with a stream of two 
thousand barrels daily. Not to be out-done by 



ON OIL CREEK. 25 

the territory down the Creek, the McElhinney 
tract '' saw" the Tarr Farm, and "■ went it a 
thousand better/' The Empire Well, close to 
the Funk, suddenly burst forth with its three 
thousand barrels daily, a figure subsequent flow- 
ing wells vainly endeavored to equal. 

The owners were bewildered. It was truly 
"too much of a good thing." The real value of 
petroleum had not yet been discovered, and the 
market for it was limited. Foreigners would 
have nothing to do with the nasty, greasy, com- 
bustible thing. Our own people were divided 
in opinion. Some thought it a dangerous thing, 
to be handled at arm's length, whilst others set 
it down as a humbug in some way or other, of 
which the community should keep as shy as 
possible. The supply was already in advance 
of the demand, but the addition of three thous- 
and barrels a day was monstrous and not to be 
endured. The price fell to twenty cents a barrel, 
then to fifteen, then to ten. Coopers would sell 
barrels for cash only, and refused to take their 
pay in oil or in drafts against oil shipments. 
Finally, it was impossible to obtain barrels on 
any terms, for all the coopers in the surrounding 
country could not make barrels as fast as the 
Empire could fill them. The owners were in 
despair and tried to choke oif their confounded 
well, but it would not be choked off. Then they 



26 THE HISTORY OF PETROLEUM 

built a dam around it and covered the soil with 
grease^ but the oil refused to be dammed, and 
rushed into the stream, making Oil Creek liter- 
ally worthy its name. For nearly a year it 
flowed, and then dropped to a pumping well, 
yielding about a hundred barrels. Lately it 
stopped, but on the application of an air pump, 
it revived, and is now steadily increasing its 
product, producing about a hundred and twenty 
barrels. 

The Sherman Well, which was the next great 
"flowing well,^' was put down in the spring of 
1862. It was sunk under great difficulties. 
J. W. Sherman, who was the original owner, 
commenced sinking it on the Foster Farm, next 
above the McElhinney, with very limited means, 
his wife furnishing the money. After a while it 
became necessary to procure an engine, but there 
was no money to make the purchase, and two 
men, who were in possession of the desired 
article, were admitted to a share for the engine. 
Soon after, when but a few feet more were ne- 
cessary to reach the supposed deposit of oil, the 
funds were exhausted. A sixteenth interest M^as 
offered for $100, and refused. Ultimately it was 
sold for $60 and an old shot-gun. A horse be- 
came necessary during the work, and a share 
was disposed of for the animal. At last, when 
all the means that could be raised by borrowing 



ON OIL CREEK. Zl 

or selling were about exhausted, oil was struck, 
and flo^Yed at the rate of fifteen hundred barrels 
a day. The flow continued at this rate for seve- 
ral months, when it declined to seven hundred 
barrels. For twenty-three months the well con- 
tinued flowing, and then it stopped. For the 
first year the proprietors made but little, if any- 
thing, owing to the low price of oil and the 
difficulty of getting it to market, but, during 
the second year, the market improved, and an 
immense fortune was realized. The well now 
pumps from thirty to forty barrels daily. 

On the East side of the Creek from the Foster 
Farm is the Farrell Farm. Farrell was a poor 
man, employed in hauling oil, and was ofi"ered 
one-eighth interest in the land for 8200. In 
March, 1863, the Caldwell well was struck on 
that farm, not far from the Sherman well, and 
flowed twelve hundred barrels daily. Two 
months afterwards, the well now known as the 
Koble and Delamater, but then as the Farrell 
well, close to the Caldwell, struck oil, and com- 
menced flowing at the rate of two thousand bar- 
rels daily. The column of oil spouted up fifty 
feet, with a roar like that of a hurricane. For 
some days the oil ran to waste, there being no 
possibility of controlling its flow. As soon, how- 
ever as its first fury was spent, a stop-cock was 



28 THE HISTORY OF PETROLEUM 

put on, and the flow reduced to a stream of the 
dimensions of a two and a half inch tube. 

In the early days of oil enterprise, and after the 
yield had become large, considerable difficulties 
existed in getting the oil to a market. There 
vrere no railways to carry it off, and the only 
plan was to float it down the creek to the Alle- 
ghany, and ship it thence by steamer or flat-boat 
to Pittsburg. When the Atlantic and Great 
Western Eailway was built to Meadville, a large 
number of barrels were hauled across the country 
by teams to that place, and shipped thence to 
New York. 

The supply of flat-boats on the creek and river 
was far too small for the requirements of the oil 
trade. When boats could not be had the oil bar- 
rels were formed into a raft and lashed together. 
In this way they w^ere floated, or towed, down to 
the mouth of the creek, where they were either 
loaded on steamers or towed to Pittsburgh. At 
times the great need was barrels. When this 
was the case the flat-boats were made oil-tight, 
and the oil poured into them in bulk. When 
there was not sufficient water in the creek, a 
large dam was made, and at an appointed time a 
pond freshet swept boats and rafts down to the 
river. Sometimes amusing, but expensive casu- 
alties resulted from these pond freshets. An 
unskilful boatman occasionally got his boat in 



ON OIL CREEK. 29 

the wrong position, and the whole mass of boats, 
rafts, and floating tanks was thrown into confu- 
sion. Eafts were broken up. tank-boats stove in, 
and an immense amount of property destroyed. 

A far more dreadful disaster frequently hap- 
pened. With the oil from flowing wells a large 
amount of highly inflammable gas escapes. The 
utmost precaution is generally taken to j)re- 
vent any fire being brought into contact with the 
gas, but accidents are sometimes unavoidable. 
The first rush of o:as. on a flowino- well beino- 
struck, occasionally enters the engine shed, and 
takes fire from the furnace. A terrific explosion 
follows, and everything in the vicinity is wrapped 
in flames. When a well takes flre in this way it 
is very difficult to extinguish it. Water appears 
to have no effect, the only effectual way to ex- 
tinguish the flames being to turn on steam, or 
stop the well hole by throwing dirt on it — a 
rather difficult task to perform in the near pres- 
ence of an intensely hot •• pillar of fire." Several 
of the leading wells have been on fire, and much 
damage done. Several times the boats on the 
creek took fire, and, breaking from their moor- 
ings, swept down stream, carrying devastation 
with them. A terrible fire of this kind occurred 
May 12th, 1863, when a great number of boats, 
loaded with oil in bulk and barrels, were on fire, 

and endangered the existence of Oil City. They 
3* 



30 THE HISTORY OF PETROLEUM 

swept down the Alleghany, destroying every 
thing with w^hich they came in contact. The 
bridge across the Alleghany at Franklin was 
totally consumed. The construction of railways 
to the oil district, from Corry and Meadville, by 
lessening the necessity for boats and rafts, has 
greatly diminished the risks by freshets and fires. 

In briefly sketching the history of a few of the 
flowing wells, only those of the earlier and more 
famous have been selected. A number of other 
flowing wells have made their possessors wealthy, 
and some have attained considerable notoriety. 

The change in the fortunes of the original 
owners of property in the oil regions must be a 
source of wonder to themselves, as it is to every 
one else. The so-called '^farms'' on Oil Creek 
never produced enough to give decent support to 
those who lived on them. The residents on the 
creek led a rough life, generally eking out their 
livelihood by rafting lumber to Pittsburgh, and 
bringing from that city such articles as they 
needed. So poor were many of them that they 
were compelled to foot it home from Pittsburgh, 
for want of means to pay for a conveyance. The 
revenue derived from oil leases on their lands, 
and fortunate speculations in oil and territory, 
have made all of them wealthy, inany of them 
millionaires. Land that six years since was not 



ON OIL CREEK. 31 

worth ten dollars an acre, has in some instances 
brought as many thousands. 

Until recently, the wells in the Pennsylvania 
oil regions were owned by single adventurers, or 
by a few men associated together. The disad- 
vantages in this mode of working were many 
and great. An adventurer who found his money 
and labor expended in the production of a '^dry 
hole," rarely possessed means or perseverance 
enough to sink another well in the vicinity 
The well was abandoned, and gave a bad reputa- 
tion to the whole neighborhood. With the pres- 
ent system of joint-stock companies, able to 
prosecute their work in spite of two or three 
failures, old property is more thoroughly de- 
veloped, and the merits of new oil-bearing terri- 
tory properly tested. The individual profits are 
not always so great, nor are the individual fail- 
ures so ruinous. Oil mining becomes less a game 
of chance, and takes its place among those 
branches of business that offer a good prospect 
of profitable returns for the investment made in 
them. 

The growth of the petroleum business is indi- 
cated in some degree by the following summary 
of exports in 1862-3-4. The exports in 1861 
were small, and no accurate account was kept of 
them. It must be borne in mind that the con- 



B2 HISTORY OF PETROLEUM ON OIL CREEK. 

Rumption in the United States is very large and 
rapidly increasing ; in fact, petroleum has be- 
come almost a necessary of life with us. 

TOTAL EXPORTS IN 1864, 1863, AND 1862. 

1864. 1863. 1862. 

Gallons. Gallons. Gallons. 

From New York 21,335,784 19,547,604 6,720,273 

Boston 1,696,307 2,049,431 1,071,375 

Philadelphia. . . . 7,760,148 5,395,738 2,800,973 

Baltimore 929,971 915,866 174,830 

Portland 70,762 342,082 120,250 

Total exports from the 

United States 31,792,972 28,250,721 10,887,701 

There were also exported, in 1864 from Cleve- 
land direct to Liverpool 80,000 gallons refined. 

AVERAGE PRICES FOR 1864 AND 1863. 

Refined, Refined Naphtha 
Crude. free. in bond. refined. 

Average 1864 41.81 74.61 65.03 39.54 

Average 1863 28.13 51.74 44.15 28.53 



HOW OIL WELLS AEE BOEED AND 
WORKED. 



The individual or company intending to bore 
for oil, either purchases the land in fee simple, or 
obtains an ^' oil lease." At the present time the 
purchase of land in fee simple is mostly effected 
by companies, the high price put on oil-bearing 
lands rendering it almost impossible for individuals 
to obtain a tract of any considerable dimensions. 

Of the tract thus purchased but a small pro- 
portion, generally, consists of what is now con- 
sidered '' borable territory," namely, the flat 
land bordering on the river or creek, and sides 
of a ravine, or bank of a stream. The remainder 
is usually high bluffs, valuable in proportion to 
the amount of wood obtainable for fuel. Some 
companies work their own property, whilst 
others grant oil leases to individuals or other 
companies. 

An '' oil lease" grants to the lessee a right to 
bore within certain limits for "oil, salt, or other 

C (33) 



34 HOW OIL WELLS ARE 

minerals/' the work to be commenced within a 
given time, and "to be prosecuted with all reason- 
able diligence." If these conditions are not com- 
plied with, the land reverts to the owner of the 
fee simple. Some of the leases granted in 1860 
and 1861 were loosely drawn up, and made no 
provision for the reversion of the property in 
case of the abandonment of the work, and it 
is no unfrequent thing, after an old well has been 
taken by new adventurers and made successful, 
for the original lessee to make his appearance 
and claim compensation. If the new proprietors 
do not comply, an injunction is obtained, and, 
rather than have the work stopped for months 
until the case comes up for trial, the victims are 
generally willing to compromise. In the begin- 
ning of the oil enterprises on Oil Creek, as now 
in some of the new oil territory, the owner of 
the fee obtained, as compensation for granting 
the lease, a royalty, or ^'landed interest," of one- 
sixth or one-fourth the oil raised, leaving the 
remainder, or "working interest,'^ to bear all the 
expenses. At the present time, on Oil Greek, 
the landed interest obtains one-half the oil on 
all new leases, and in some very desirable loca- 
tions a bonus is demanded in addition. It will 
be readily seen that the owner of the " landed 
interest'' gets the lion's share, receiving half the 
product without being at any expense for work- 



BORED AND WORKED. 35 

ing. The royalty ^Yas formerly paid in kind, 
but is now usually settled by taking half the 
value of the sale of oil. Should the lessee abandon 
his adventure he is allowed to remove his derrick 
and engine. 

Having bought or leased a location, the next 
step is to select the exact point for boring. In 
this the experienced worker is guided, to some 
extent, by the nature of the soil and the position 
of the ground. A new class of people has sprung 
into existence under the cognomen of '^ oil 
smellers," who profess to be able to ascertain 
the proper spot for boring by smelling the earth. 
Some of them practise considerable mummery in 
order to mystify and impress their employers. 
The •' witch-hazel'^ is also frequently used, the 
professional locater of wells marching solemnly 
along, holding his hands apart with one end of a 
forked hazel-rod in each. On passing over an oil 
spring or basin, the point at the junction of the 
forks suddenly deflects towards the earth, and 
there the work is commenced. As the witch 
hazel has the property — according to believers 
in its powers — of finding streams of water in 
the same manner, it sometimes happens that 
water, instead of oil, proves to be the product 
of the well. 

The exact spot being determined, a huge der- 
rick is erected immediately over it. This is a 



36 HOW OIL WELLS ARE 

square frame of timbers, substantially bolted 
together, making an enclosure about forty feet 
high, and about ten feet at the base, tapering 
somewhat as it ascends. This is generally 
boarded up a portion of the distance to shelter 
the workmen. A grooved wheel or pulley hangs 
at the top, and a windlass and crank are at the 
base. A short distance from the derrick a small 
steam engine, either stationary or portable, is 
fixed, and covered with a rough board shanty; 
a pitman rod connects the crank of the engine 
with one end of a large wooden walking-beam, 
placed midway betw^een the engine and the der- 
rick, the beam being pivoted on its centre about 
twelve feet from the ground. The walking-beam 
is a rude imitation of that of a side-wheel 
steamer. A rope attached to its other end 
passes over the pulley at the top of the derrick, 
and terminates immediately over the intended 
hole. A cast-iron pipe, from 4} to 5 inches in 
diameter, is driven into the surface ground, length 
Mlowing length until the rock is reached. In the 
older wells the ground was dug out to the rock, 
and a wooden tube put in it. The earth having been 
removed from the interior of the pipe the actual I 
process of boring or drilling is commenced. Two 
huge links of iron, called ^' jars,'' are attached to 
the end of the rope. At the end of the lower 
link a long and heavy iron pipe is fixed, and in 



BORED AND WORKED. 37 

the end of this is screwed the drill, about three 
inches in diameter, and a yard long. When all 
is ready the drill and its heavy attachments are 
lowered into the tube and the engine set in mo- 
tion. TTith every elevation of the derrick end 
of the walking-beam, the drill strikes the rock. 
the heavy links of the "jars'' sliding into each 
other and thus preventing a jerking strain on 
the rope. The rock, as it is pounded, mixes in a 
pulverized condition with the water constantly 
dripping into the hole, and assumes a pasty form. 
After a while the drill is hoisted out and a sand- 
pump dropped into the hole. The sand-pump is 
a copper tube, about five feet long, and a little 
smaller than the drill, having a valve in its bot- 
tom opening upwards and inwards. As the tube 
is dropped into the hole the pasty mass rushes 
into it through the valve and remains there. 
When this has been done several times the tube 
is hoisted out and emptied, the operation being 
repeated until the hole is clear, when the work 
of drilling recommences. It is evident that as 
the drill is not round at the point, but with a 
chisel-shaped edge, the hole would not be round 
unless some other means were adopted. This is 
partially accomplished by the borer, who sits on 
a seat about six or eight feet above the hole, and 
holds a handle fixed to the rope, giving the latter 
a half twist at every blow. By this means a 



38 HOW OIL WELLS ARE 

nearer approach to a cylindrical hole is attained. 
But the hole must be as nearly round as pos- 
sible, and therefore the tools are taken out, and 
a " rimmer/' or ^^ reamer/^ sent down, which cuts 
down the irregularities of the hole. 

In the earlier days of well-boring, as now in 
some localities, the wells were sunk by hand, or 
by horse-power. In the former case a stiff spring- 
pole, firmly secured at one end, lifted the drill 
and rods suspended from its free end, and the 
power was applied to this end to make it sud- 
denly descend. Two men, standing together, 
placed each a foot in a double stirrup suspended 
from the pole, and suddenly bore it down. Im- 
mediately it sprang up, and the operation was 
repeated. This was a tedious and laborious ope- 
ration, and has been generally abandoned. 

As the holes get down to points where the 
first indications of oil are reached, the contents 
of the sand-pumps are anxiously examined. The 
oil-borers have a geological system of their own, 
the prominent points of which are three layers 
of sandstone. The '^ first sandstone'' lies imme- 
diately below the alluvial deposit. The ^' second 
sandstone^' is at a variable depth of 100 to 300 
feet, and here the first- indications of oil are 
reached. Some wells go no lower than the se- 
cond sandstone, but the general plan is to go 



BORED AND WORKED. 39 

down into the '-third sandstone." where the 
largest and most reliable deposit of oil is fonnd. 

It frequently happens that the drill breaks and 
falls off, and becomes fixed in the hole. JSTothing 
can he done until the tool is removed. The re- 
maining portion of the boring instrument is 
taken off, and a pair of nippers or clamps let 
down into the hole to grip the broken drill and 
extract it. Some men make the extraction of 
tools a special business, and exhibit great inge- 
nuity in their devices to overcome the difficulties 
they have to encounter. There are instances 
where wells have had to be abandoned in conse- 
quence of the tools remaining immovablj' fixed in 
the hole. 

When the hole has been sunk to a sufficient 
depth and ••'strike oil,'' the next thing is to extract 
the oil from the well. If a flowing well has been 
struck, all trouble on this head is saved, as the 
oil and gas rush out in a stream, sometimes with 
such violence that the men have to make their 
arrangements with considerable rapidity, or the 
precious fluid runs to waste. The first business 
is to tube the well. An iron pipe, with a valve 
at the bottom like the lower valve of a pump, is 
run down the entire depth of the well, the neces- 
sary lens^th beincr obtained bv screwino: the sec- 
tions firmly together. If the oil does not flow 
spontaneously, a pump-box, attached to a wooden 



40 HOW OIL WELLS ARE 

rod, also made of sections screwed into each other, 
is inserted in the tube, and the upper end of the 
rod attached to the '' walking-beam." The well 
is now ready for pumping. 

One important feature in the tubing process 
must not be forgotten. In boring for oil, springs 
of water are of course cut through and the water 
falls into the hole. Being heavier than the oil, 
it lies at the bottom, and would enter the pump- 
tube but for a very ingenious contrivance known 
as the seed-bag. This is a leather bag, in shape 
something like a boot-leg, filled with flax-seed, 
which is fastened around the iron tube at what is 
considered the proper point, and crowded down 
wath it. When the seed-bag becomes wet it 
swells and thus forms a water-tight packing be- 
tween the tube and the rock. At times the seed- 
bag slips or bursts, the well at once fills with 
water, and the tubing has to be pulled in order 
to refix the seed-bag. 

More or less gas accompanies the oil in its 
passage to the surface. If a flowing well, the 
gas is allowed to escape, there being no use for 
it, and it can be distinctly seen puffing out of the 
pipe, generally with labored breathings or pant- 
ing, the cause of which is known among the 
operators as the "breathings of the earth," in 
reality being the irregular obstructions to its 
passage by the unequal flow of oil in the bottom 



BORED AND WORKED. 41 

of the hole. The passage of the oil from a large 
flowing well is a curious and interesting sight. 

In many of the pumping wells the gas is saved 
and used, either hy itself or with coal, as fuel for 
the engine. To save it, the mingled gas, oil and 
water — for in spite of all precautions some 
water will come up from nearly every pumping 
well — is conducted by a pipe from the well tube 
into a tight barrel. The oil aiid water fall into 
the bottom of the barrel, and run off by a pipe 
near the bottom into a huge tank or vat, where 
another separation is caused by the different 
gravities of the two fluids, the water sinking to 
the bottom of the vat. The gas escapes by a 
small pipe at the top of the barrel, and is con- 
ducted into the furnace, where it burns with a 
fierce and steady flame. The engine of the 
Forest City well, as also many other wells, is run 
entirely by gas, the jet being spread into a broad 
and waving flame by passing through a piece of 
sheet iron pierced with holes. Its steadiness is 
shown by the fact that the engine house is lit 
with several jeta of gas, of a steadier and purer 
flame than that furnished by some gas com- 
panies. 

The oil, as it flows into the tank, is a dark 

green fluid. When sold for shijDment it is drawn 

off by a faucet in the bottom into barrels. In 

the larger wells, where a considerable quantity 

4* 



42 HOW OIL WELLS ARE 

of oil is kept on hand before sale, ranges of vats 
are built, the oil flowing from one to the other. 
The vats are covered with boards, and at the 
larger wells roofed in to prevent evaporation. 
At the gassy wells great care has to be taken 
with regard to fire, as a lighted cigar might set 
fire to the gas and blow up the whole concern. 
In the early days of the flowing wells, before 
their nature was thoroughly known, serious con- 
flagrations took place from this cause. Should a 
well take fire, water not only fails to extinguish it, 
but seems to add to the fury of the flame. 

Experiments are in progress for testing the 
practicability of a new process of boring. The 
principle is that of cutting out a hole instead of 
pounding it. The drill is circular and hollow, 
being a thin tube, set at its lower edge with 
Brazilian diamonds, of hardness sufficient to cut 
glass. It is connected by an iron rod to bevelled 
cog wheels attached by cranks and rods to the 
walking-beam of the engine. The surface of the 
upper rock being cleared, the drill sits on it and 
revolves with great rapidity, cutting its. way 
down at a rate astonishing to old well borers, 
and leaving a central core standing. A clamp is 
let down which grips the core and jerks it up in 
the form of a perfectly smooth cylinder. Water 
is poured down the hole to assist the cutting pro- 
cess, until the natural flow from the springs cut 



BORED AND WORKED. 43 

supplies the want. The portions of the core 
shown exhibited the stratification of the rock, 
and will go far to settle some vexed questions 
about the strata which cannot be ascertained by 
the ordinary method of drilling. 

Five feet of rock had been cut at the rate of 
four inches in five minutes, or ninety-six feet per 
day, when some changes were required in the 
machine, and it was removed for alteration. The 
patentee is satisfied that he can put down a well 
five hundred feet in ten days, at no greater cost 
to the well-owner than by the present tedious 
process, which takes from two to four months. 
Another boring machine, of somewhat similar 
design, has also been introduced, but neither 
has yet been thoroughly tested. 

It sometimes happens that after a well has 
been yielding for months it stops and refuses to 
yield another drojD. This is occasioned in some 
instances by the thickening of the paraffine at 
the bottom of the hole, and the consequent ob- 
struction to the flow of the oil into the pump 
box. Jo remedy this a jet of steam from the 
engine is introduced and forced down the hole, 
melting the coagulated mass, and restoring the 
flow into the pump. Another plan, which is 
coming into use, and which has so far proved 
successful, is to use an "ejector,'^ or air-pump, 
with two pipes inserted into the tube of the well. 



44 ' HOW OIL WELLS ARE 

The air is forced down one pipe into the vein at 
the bottom, and the oil rushes up in a steady 
stream through the other. By the use of these 
^' ejectors " a number of wells have been restored 
to a yield ranging from thirty to a hundred and 
forty barrels daily, after they had been considered 
worthless by their owners. 

An invention has recently been introduced, and 
has proved highly successful in the experimental 
tests to which it has been subjected. This is 
known as the '^Eoberts torpedo/' and consists of 
a cylindrical tube four feet in length, made to fit 
the bore of the oil well, which is filled with gun- 
powder, lowered by a wire into the well to any 
desired point, and exploded by the percussion of 
an iron weight or follower, sent down the wire 
after the torpedo is lowered. The torpedo, on 
being exploded, drives out the parafiine or other 
coagulated matter, and at the same time opens 
fissures into the solid rock, very often leading 
into veins or new wells of oil. An experiment 
on this principle was made at Marysville, Medina 
County, Ohio, in 1861 ; but from the imperfect 
nature of the means used, it failed as a practical 
measure, although the correctness of the theory 
was proved. The rock was shattered and oil 
forced up in various places at a distance of several 
rods, but the well was ruined by the iron pipe 
used being jammed into the hole. 



BORED AND WORKED. 45 

The cost of sinking a well differs greatly ac- 
cording to the locality, the nature of the rock, 
the depth to be sunk, and other incidental causes. 
The engines used range from six to eighteen 
horse-power, the general size now coming into 
use being from ten to twelve horse-power. The 
mistake frequently made by inex23erienced man- 
agers is the getting of too small engines, the object 
being the saving of ex]^)ense. It is a false econ- 
omy. Small and inefficient engines are the cause 
of much of the trouble at the wells. It is better 
to err on the side of unnecessary power, as the 
same engine can be used for sinking new wells 
whilst pumping the original well. In some 
jDlaces five or six wells have been worked by 
the same engine. Get a good engine, in perfect 
order, and it will be found the most economical. 
Such an engine will cost from 82,100 to 83,000. 
The derrick, walking-beam, &c., will cost about 
S150 ; one set of drilling-tools, about 8300. The 
inch and a half hawser, sand-pumj:), tubing, 
drawing-pipe, and miscellaneous tubes, will aver- 
age 81000 more. The drilling is generally done 
by special contract, the owners of the pro^Dcrty 
finding the tools and machinery. The average 
contract price is 82.50 per foot for the first five 
hundred feet. Where the proprietors determine 
to sink wells with their own workmen, it is ne- 
cessary to keep a strict watch, as the " sujoerin- 



46 HOW OIL WELLS ARE BORED AND WORKED. 

tendant" is very apt to spend a considerable por- 
tion of his time in '^prospecting^' and land specu- 
lating on his own account, and the workmen, 
being paid for their tedious and monotonous 
work by the day, are usually in no hurry about 
it, when left to themselves. The total cost of 
sinking a well five hundred feet may be esti- 
mated at from six thousand to nine thousand 
dollars. The first estimate may not be exceeded, 
but so many mishaps occur from the breaking 
of tools, giving away of machinery, and other 
causes, that it is better to have a wide margin. 
The second well can be sunk at about half the 
expense, by using the same engine and tools. 

After the well is sunk, should it flow, the ex- 
pense is merely nominal. If it is a pumping 
well, two engineers, one or two extra hands, and 
the fuel, will make the ordinary daily expenses 
from ten to twenty dollars, according to circum- 
stances. The breakage of the wooden pump-rods, 
giving out of machinery, delays by slipping and 
bursting of the seed-bag, and the frequent diffi- 
culty of obtaining fuel, even at a high cost, will 
frequently increase the expenses and diminish the 
receipts at the same time. 



THE PEXXSYLYAXIA OIL EEGIOX — 

THE PEIXCIP.IL OIL LOCALITIES 

AXD HOTT TO EEACH THE^I. 



Pennsylvania is, at present^ the greatest oil- 
producing State in America, or the Trorld, and 
Venango county is the principal oil region of 
Pennsylvania. Some developments of oil have 
been made in Crawford, Clarion. Eayette and 
other counties, but so far. Yenango county has 
been the chosen seat of emjDire of King Petro- 
leum. If a line be drawn nearly through the 
centre of the county, running from north to 
south, tending a little west, it will pass along Oil 
Creek, the central and most productive portion 
of the oil territory. From Franklin, a few miles 
below where Oil Creek joins the river, the Alle- 
ghany to the east, and French Creek to the west, 
form a huge Y, with Oil Creek passing down the 
middle and joining the right arm of the Y just 
above the point of junction. Below this point 
the Alleghany stretches, converting the Y into a 

(47) 



48 THE PENNSYLVANIA OIL REGION. 

Y. The centre, or Oil Creek line, is that of the 
greatest yield at present, the others not having 
been so extensively worked. The first discoveries 
of oil were made on Oil Creek, and for some 
time explorations were confined to that line. 
The success there met with induced others to 
examine into the oil-producing qualities of the 
adjoining strean^s, and a number of holes were 
sunk on the banks of the Alleghany Elver, 
French Creek, Sugar Creek, (an affluent of the 
French,) and some of the "runs," or small 
streams, tributary to the several creeks. 

Beginning at the point where the Alleghany 
crosses the Venango county line, a short distance 
below Tidioute (the highest point of oil opera- 
tions on the river), the oil line stretches along the 
banks of the Alleghany, in its sinuous course, 
for about sixty miles, during no part of which 
distance would a voyager be out of sight of the 
derrick of an oil well, past, present, or prospec- 
tive. After entering the Yenango county lines, 
the principal streams discharging into the Alle- 
ghany on its way south, are the East Hickory 
on the west; Tionesta and Little Tionesta, Hem- 
lock Creek with its branch known as Porcupine 
Eun, on the east ; Culberton's Eun and Pithole 
Creek on the west ; Horse Creek on the east ; 
Oil Creek, Two Mile Eun, and French Creek on 
the west; East Sandy on the east; Big Sandy, 



THE PENNSYLVANIA OIL REGION. 49 

Big Scrub Grass and Little Scrub Grass on the 
west. Besides these there 'are numerous smaller 
streams that have not yet attained notice for 
their oil-bearing qualities, although many com- 
panies have been organized for their develop- 
ment. All the streams mentioned have become 
oil locations, and on each of them the work of 
pumping or boring is going on with great activity. 

From the mouth of Oil Creek to Titusville, 
just across the Crawford county line, is a dis- 
tance of twenty miles, along the whole of which 
the wells are thickly planted. Ascending the 
stream, Cornplanter Eun heads off towards the 
north-west, Cherry Eun to the north-east. Cherry 
Tree Eun, and "Weikel Eun which branches from 
it, to the north-west; and Bennehoff^s Eun to 
the west. Just below Titusville, Oil Creek forks 
to the east and west. All the tributaries of Oil 
Creek are oil-producing, and are crowded with 
wells. 

French Creek, one of the largest affluents of 
the Alleghany in Yenango county, comes in from 
the north west. A number of wells are scattered 
along its banks. Sugar Creek enters French 
Creek from the east about three miles above 
Franklin, and is now a favorite oil locality. 

Meadville is- the central point of departure 
from which to reach any part of the Venango 
county oil regions. From it the traveller can 
5 D 



50 THE PENNSYLVANIA OIL REGION. 

enter Oil Creek at either the Oil City or Titns- 
ville end. The best route is by way of Franklin 
and Oil City. Arriving at Meadvile by the 
Atlantic and Great Western Eailroad, the visitor 
can obtain a comfortable night^s rest and an 
excellent breakfast at the McHenry House, the 
hotel in the depot building. Taking the Frank- 
lin Branch cars a little before eight o'clock in the 
morning, the distance to Franklin, twenty-eight 
miles, is done in something under two hours and 
a half The railway follows the course of French 
Creek throughout, affording in summer a series 
of picturesque scenes. The last five or six miles 
of the route is lined with oil wells, nearly all put 
down in 1860 and 1861, and abandoned. A few 
have resumed work. 

From Franklin to Cooperstown, on Sugar 
Creek, is about eight miles over a fair road. 
Conveyances can be had in Franklin. A nearer 
route to Cooperstown is to leave the train at 
TJtica station, nineteen miles from Meadville, and 
take the road across. This will save from two 
to three miles, but the chances of obtaining con- 
veyance across are not many, as there are no 
livery stables in Utica. 

Horses or conveyances of some kind can be 
obtained in Franklin to visit the Alleghany 
below. The visitor must not rely too much on 
this, however, as the great rush of people to the 



THE PENNSYLVANIA OIL REGION. 51 

oil regions makes a greater demand for convey- 
ances than can be met by. the limited supply. 
As might be supposed under such circumstances, 
prices rule extravagantly high. Liver}' stable 
keepers charge about ten per cent, on the value 
of a horse vrhen letting it out for a day. The 
Alleghany below -Franklin is very crooked, and 
the distance by the river bank is much greater 
than by the roads that keep a short distance from 
the stream. 

Until recently, the communication between 
Franklin and Oil City, seven miles, was by 
steamer twice a day in summer, and by private 
conveyance or foot in winter. The Franklin 
Branch Eailway is now open for passengers to 
Oil City. 

From Oil City up the Alleghany, there is a 
road hugging the river bank, and crossing the 
river by ferries at several points where the steep 
bluffs block the way. To reach Pithole Creek, 
and the river above that point, the best route is 
to go from Oil City to Plumer, seven miles, and 
turning to the right from the centre of the village, 
cross Pithole Creek, and strike the river at Cul- 
beiiison's Eun. From this point a good road 
extends along either bank. Two villages are 
passed on the road before reaching the northern 
line of Yenango county. At President, near the 
mouth of Hemlock Creek, a large hotel has re- 



52 THE PENNSYLVANIA OIL REGION. 

cently been built. At the mouth of Tionesta 
Creek is the village of Tionesta. Both these vil- 
lages are on the east side of the river. From 
Oil City to Hickory Creek is about twenty-eight 
miles. 

From Oil City up Oil Creek to Titusville the 
choice lies between horseback and foot travel. 
The best way, on every account, is to -vvalk. The 
horses betray few traces of Arabian blood, and 
their habits are too devotional for comfort or 
safety. The greater number drop on their knees 
at every opportunity. By going on foot the 
visitor can see more, and, in many instances, 
travel faster than on horseback. From Oil City 
to Shaeifer's Farm, where the Oil Creek Eailroad 
is first reached, is about twelve and a half miles 
of about the worst road — or rather no road — in 
the United States. There are several stopping 
places on the route, Eouseville, McClintockville, 
and Petroleum Centre having tavern accommoda- 
tions — such as they are. At Shaeffer's Farm the 
train can be taken in the evening for Titusville, 
seven miles, and, early next morning, from Titus- 
ville to Corry, twenty-eight miles, and back to 
Meadville, forty-two miles farther. 

Everywhere the visitor must be prepared for 
rough living and hard lodging, if fortunate 
enough to obtain lodging. When intending to 
stoj) at night at any particular place, telegraph 



THE PENNSYLVANIA OIL REGION. 53 

in the moriniis: to en^-aofe a bed. Bv doino- so 
you will have a slight chance of obtaining half a 
bed. If this is neglected there is a certainty of 
getting no bed at all. 

Wear such clothing as will excite no regrets 
should they be covered with mud or grease, as 
they inevitably will. Put on long legged boots, 
made waterproof. Carry no baggage except a 
small travelling bag or haversack, suspended 
by a strap over the shoulder. A blanket will be 
found very convenient in case no bed can be ob- 
tained, or as an addition to the scanty amount of 
bed-clothing- should a bed be secured. A lunch, 
or some crackers and cheese, in the haversack 
will be found convenient in case a tavern cannot 
be reached by dinner time. 

The visitor to the Oil Eegions who cannot 
"rough it,^' amid mud, filth, grease, wretched 
roads, deep quagmires, miserable accommoda- 
tions, and poor food, had better stop at Meadville, 
eat a hearty dinner at the McHenry House, and 
then take the first train for home. He has not 
had a " call '^ for life among the oil wells. 
5^ 



A TEIP DOWia OIL CEEEK— MBADYILLB 
TO SHAEFFEE'S FAEM, VIA COEEY. 



The narrative of the leading features of a three 
weeks trip through the oil regions of Yenango 
county, during which all the important localities 
were visited and thoroughly explored, will give 
some idea of the nature of the country and the 
business done in it, but no description can do the 
subject proper justice. An actual visit can alone 
give one a proper appreciation of the vast import- 
ance of the petroleum business. 

Travelling in the roomy and elegant cars of 
the Atlantic and Great Western Eailway, the 
journey was performed with comparative ease 
and comfort. At Meadville we halted for the 
night at the McHenry House, that we might 
enter the oily land with daylight to reveal its 
wonders. Here we found the principal topic of 
discussion was oil. The wave of excitement 
which was said to be sweeping through the 
valleys to the southward, rippled gently in the 
(54) 



A TRIP DOWN OIL CREEK. 55 

McHenry House, and people were discussing the 
latest news from "the Creek." Every one we 
met with was "in oil," and every one was 
making arrangements to get deeper into the 
grease. Big stories w^ere told of the fortunes 
made at the wells, and by the owners of oil 
lands, and bigger tales of the frightful state of 
the roads. I dreamed all night of thousand-bar- 
rel wells throwing up oceans of mud, and wading 
in greenbacks to the knees. My travelling com- 
panion in the opposite bed interrupted his " dis- 
tinct breathings," with muttered offers of "ten 
thousand dollars for the refusal of your farm for 
five minutes," awakening me with his demands 
for an immediate answer. I set him down as a 
pitiable case of " oil on the brain,'' and tried to 
go to sleep. 

At five o'clock of a dark, cold, and snowy morn- 
ing, we set out by a freight train for Corry, having 
determined to enter the oil region by the Titus- 
ville route. That it is not the most convenient 
route was a fact of which we soon had abundant 
evidence, but, on the whole, there was not much 
to complain of, although travelling in a caboose 
car very early on a cold morning, is not the most 
pleasant experience in the world. 

Everything must have an end, and shortly 
after eight o'clock we reached Corry. Here the 
Atlantic and Great Western, Philadelphia and 



56 A TRIP DOWN OIL CREEK. 

Erie, and Oil Creek Eailways meet. The junc- 
tion station is a miserable little affair, of rough 
boards, and utterly unable to shelter one-half the 
crowd waiting to go by the different trains. The 
snow was driving furiously, the weather was 
getting momentarily colder, and every one sought 
shelter. The dense mass, packed into the miser- 
able little station like herrings in a cask, formed 
a motley assemblage. There were but few women 
among them. The men were of all ranks, ages, 
and descriptions. Sharp-eyed, trim-dressed, and 
eager speculators from New York, Philadelphia, 
and Pittsburgh, carpet-sack in hand, or with 
travelling bag strapped over the shoulder, going 
down to secure " a big thing f traders anxious to 
open up a line of custom ; rough fellows, going 
down to work at the wells ; and old farmers, 
coarsely clad, and with their cowhide boots 
covered to the tops with mud whose layers 
spoke of months of travel over villanous roads, 
just as the concentric rings of bark on a tree 
reveal its years of growth, but who had within 
a year or two been made rich by farms that had 
previcfusly made them poor — all were bawling 
for tickets for " Titusville'' or " Shaeffer's Farm," 
until the ticket-clerk was well nigh driven des- 
perate. 

For nearly an hour the crowd surged outward 
towards the platform, as the rumble of a passing 



A TRIP DOWN OIL CREEK. 57 

locomotive Tvas heard, and inward to^rards the 
stove, as the origin of the sound became known. 
Just as the crowd had settled down to the con- 
viction that there was to be no conveyance to 
Oil Creek, a shout of '• Train '' was heard. 

A bomb-shell suddenly dropped in their midst 
could not have produced a greater stampede than 
did that shout. The train was slowly backed 
down to the station, when the crowd rushed furi- 
ously at it. They swarmed up the steps, into 
the baggage car, over the locomotive, everywhere 
but under the wheels, and how they escaped that 
was a mystery. All the courtesies and amenities 
of life were disregarded. Men fought for prece- 
dence as if their lives depended on it. Women 
were rudely thrust back by anxious men who 
clung to the step-rails and kicked off those who 
endeavored to climb over them. Three cars and 
a baggage car were in three minutes packed 
almost to suffocation. A rattle and a jerk, and 
the train was off, shaking and jolting every one 
into position. We were well on our way to the 
" Oil Dorado.'^ 

From Corry to Titusville the railroad passes 
through an irregular country, and the track ge- 
nerally follows the original configuration of the 
land. Up hill the huge locomotive pants with 
its heavy load, and down hill it rushes, shrieking 
as if anxious to plunge itself into destruction. 



58 A TRIP DOWN OIL CREEK. 

Corry, with its scattered houses, its immense oil 
refinery, the largest establishment of the kind 
in existence, and all the other items that make 
up a thriving town, where three or four years 
ago there was nothing but " the forest primeval," 
is soon left behind. So also are the long trains of 
engines waiting to be united to innumerable der- 
ricks already lining the creek, but which will 
have to wait longer yet, owing to the inadequate 
facilities possessed by the road for transporting 
the immense amount of freight crowding on it. 
Soon the line of the creek is struck, and the 
road skirts its edge, most of the way winding 
along a ledge cut in the face of almost perpendi- 
cular cliffs. Here and there a derrick, like the 
skeleton of a church spire with its apex sawn 
off, and the frame not yet lifted on the church, 
keeps solemn watch along the banks, pickets of 
the advancing army of Petrolia. Presently the 
derricks increase • they close up their ranks, and 
soon stand in unbroken line along the left bank 
of the stream, throwing frequent skirmishers 
across to the right bank, effecting lodgment at 
the foot of the precipitous cliffs, where there is 
barely room to stand, and even threatening the 
railroad track which winds higher up. Puffs of 
steam and creaking of engines show where the 
pumping wells are at work. The river is dark, 
and a scum of oil glistens on its surface. Here 



A TRIP DOWN OIL CREEK. 59 

and there a small board-shanty, connected by 
slender pipes with tanks at a little distance, 
marks the existence of a refinery — for all the 
processes connected with oil, from its extraction 
from th^ rock until it is ready for consumption, 
are carried on in the vicinity of the wells, employ- 
ing a great number of refineries in addition to 
those in successful operation at Cleveland, Pitts- 
burgh, ^ew York, Philadelphia, and other places. 
The river margin widens and the number of der- 
ricks increase. Xo longer in single line, they 
double and treble their ranks, and appear in un- 
broken column; the new timber, showing the 
large proportion just started, and the black and 
greasy ajDpearance of many proving that their 
owners have '^ struck ile." 

Twenty-eight miles from Corry the train 
stopped at Titusville, the last point in Crawford 
county before entering Venango county. A few 
years ago, Titusville was a lively little village, 
chiefly inhabited by lumbermen and raftsmen. 
In 1855 it was credited in the Gazetteer with 
having '^an Universalist church and 243 inhabit- 
ants." Now it has a population of over six 
thousand, and is rapidly increasing. The one 
church has found several others to keep it 
company. There are thirteen hotels, crowded 
nightly with guests, of whom a large proportion 
have to spend the night without the privilege 



60 A TRIP DOWN OIL CREEK. 

of half a bed (an entire interest in a bed is a 
thing unknown in the oil region). Two banks 
do a large business in the funds produced by 
operations in oil, and a third bank is nearly ready 
to open. A new and handsome reading-room, 
well supplied with the papers and periodicals 
of the day, has been opened, and there is a hall 
kept constantly engaged by lecturers, concerts, 
or other popular amusements. In every part 
Titusville gives evidence of its state of transition 
from a small village to a thriving city. Lofty 
and handsome brick blocks alternate with small 
dilapidated wooden buildings. A well-made plank 
sidewalk borders a muddy canal, by courtesy called 
a street. When the citizens have time, some day, 
they will probably rectify those little irregularities, 
but just now every one is too busy. There are oil 
wells within the limits of the town, and some of 
the new settlers who have purchased lots on some 
of the streets are in doubt whether to erect a 
dwelling or a derrick. One is necessary, yet the 
other may pay best. 

The platform at Titusville station was crowded 
with people, some waiting to see the new arrivals, 
but most intending to take the train for farther 
down the creek. For every person who left the 
train at least three got on, so that the crowd be- 
came even thicker than before, and a number 
were driven to the platform of the cars. 



A TRIP DOWN OIL CREEK. 61 

From Titusville to Shaeffer's Farm is seven 
miles, and all the way there were abundant evi- 
dences of oil adventurers, past, present and pro- 
spective. About a mile and a half below Titus- 
ville. on TTatson's flats^ is the scene of Col. 
Drake's first experiment in sinking oil wells, the 
result of which has been the enriching thousands 
of persons, and the addition of an immense bu- 
siness to the resources of the nation. ]S"ear this 
point comes in the East branch of Oil Creek, 
which has now been purchased and leased to 
nearly its entire length, for the purpose of boring 
for oil. Along the whole route to Shaeffer's 
Farm the derricks increased in number until 
there was a perfect forest of dismantled steeples. 
The air was redolent with the greasy perfume, 
and the passengers in the crowded cars talked 
more fiercely about oil, and discussed vast sums 
of money more glibly. 

Miller's Farm, at which the train stops for a 
few minutes, is now a scene of busy activity. 
In the Autumn of 1864 three-fourths of the farm, 
comprising a tract of three hundred and seventy- 
five acres, was purchased by the ''Indian Eock 
Oil Company,'' of New York. The enterprise 
was a vast one, for the purchase of so large a 
property in the very heart of the developed oil 
region, required large capital. 

The property at the time of its purchase con- 



62 A TRIP DOWN OIL CREEK. 

tained a number of wells in operation, and others 
going down. The new proprietors, anxious to 
fully develope the value of their property, in- 
stead of floating their stock upon the market, 
proceeded at once to the work of sinking new 
wells, and in this way have already expended 
about $75,000. The result of this course will, 
from present appearances, be the production of 
several new successful wells. 

Shaeffer's Farm at last. The crowd tumbled 
out of the cars as frantically as they clambered 
in, and, clutching their scanty baggage, rushed 
wildly for the "hotel,^^ scrambling over each 
other in their anxiety to get first at the register. 
Every man as he scrawled his name with a ner- 
vous hand, inquired if he could get a room at 
night, and w^as met w4th the chilling response 
from an individual in high boots, covered with 
mud, that ^' there was almighty little show for 
anything, as it looked to him.^' Determined to 
make sure of what was at hand, and trust to 
luck, for the future, the crowd broke for the 
dining-room, not stopping to go through the 
ceremony of washing, for the land of grease and 
dirt has been reached, and the niceties of civi- 
lized life are henceforth disregarded. A plunge 
was made through the narrow passage to the 
dining-room; already keen-scented nostrils snuffed 
the titillating odor of roast and boiled, and 



A TRIP DOWN OIL CREEK. 63 

hungry mouths watered in expectancy. But an 
impassable obstacle presented itself in the shape 
of a grim janitor who refused admittance with- 
out a ticket, and the ^-Johnny JSTewcomes" had 
to fight their way back to the bar and deposit 
seventy-five cents for the bit of blue paste-board, 
whilst the old stagers who were better provided, 
entered and filled all the vacant chairs. To give 
an idea of the rush of pilgrims to the Oilj^ Land 
the fact may be cited that at one tavern at 
Shaeffer's Farm, about four hundred people dine 
daily. As to the quality of the meal we have 
nothing particular to say. The price was first 
class, and if the viands fell short of first class 
standard, the people at the ^' oil diggins'' have 
no business with nice stomachs. 

Dinner bolted, our first enquiry was about 
getting down the Creek. Conveyances there 
were none, from the fact that there were nc 
roads to travel on. A single glance at the coun 
try around the "hotel" settled that question. 
A walk of three feet from the door in any direc- 
tion brought the w^ayfarer into mud knee deep— 
and such mud! Clayey, slippery, greasy, sticky 
mud. into which you slid easily to uncertain 
depth, but which clung with fond affection to 
your legs, and endeavored to perform the ofiices 
of a boot-jack; deceptive mud, that appeared of 
uniform quality, but which in places suddenly 



64 A TRIP DOWN OIL CREEK 

engulfed the traveller thigh deep. Some of the 
pilgrims struck out boldly but were soon stuck 
fast, monuments of their own rashness. Clearly 
that mode of travel was not to be thought of 
except in case of dire necessity. 

A good Samaritan appeared on the scene in 
the person of an exceedingly dirty and rowdyish 
looking young fellow, with the guise of a canaller. 
He loudly invited every one to take the packet 
boat for Oil City. Here was hope — doomed, 
alas ! to be crushed as soon as born. The packet 
boat was an oily flat-boat, without shelter or 
seat, and the fare for the twelve miles by this 
precious conveyance was only three dollars and 
a half, or about thirty cents a mile ! So that 
plan was rejected, and a brief council of war re- 
sulted in the decision to stay all night at Shaef- 
fer's Farm, and start down on foot early in the 
morning. By dint of considerable finessing we 
secured a half-interest each in a small bed, 
packed with another bed in a dark closet digni- 
fied with the title of a '' sleeping-apartment." 
As four persons occupied the room, in which 
there w^as barely space enough for two persons 
to undress at one time, and as there was not a 
window or opening of any kind for ventilation, 
but little clothing was required to keep us warm, 
a fact of which the landlord was evidently aware. 
Our neighbors "across the way^' were deep in 



A TRIP DOWN OIL CREEK. 65 

oil. and kept up a continued conversation on the 
subject. About two o'clock in the morning I 
dropped asleep, lulled by a confused sound of 
*' flowing well — five hundred thousand dollars — 
one-half the oil — two years ago he wasn't worth 
a red cent — two thousand dollars a day — the big- 
gest thing yet — third sandstone — made his ever- 
lasting fortune.'' ily last mental reflection was 
that I wished I could say so of myself. 



6* 



DOWJSr OIL CEBEK TO OIL CITY. 



He who essays the ^^ middle passage" between 
Shaeffer's Farm (the present terminus of the 
Oil Creek Eailroad) and Oil City, must prepare 
himself for an experience for which life in the 
city affords but a poor preparation. The second 
step from the hotel at Shaeffer's plunges the pe- 
destrian into a sea of mud which extends with 
varying depth to Oil City, more than twelve 
miles, with scarcely a friendly rock on which to 
rest the sole of the foot. Mud everywhere, illim- 
itable, unfathomable. Let him who thinks he can 
make the passage by turning up his trowsers 
over his ankles and picking his way, at once 
disabuse himself of the idea. If he does not, 
ten steps from Person's Hotel at the Shaeffer will 
do it for him. 

Lest any intending visitor to the oil regions 
should be discouraged by this picture and con- 
fine his wanderings to the limits of the railroads, 
I warn him that if he would see anything at all 
(66) 



DOWN OIL CREEK TO OIL CITY. 67 

of oildom he must make the passage, unpleasant 
as it may be. There is no alternative. To see 
the tips of the elephant's ears, or the end of his 
tail, is not to see the animal, or form any idea of 
his bulk, and there is no other way of doing it 
than to " wade in.'' And this much may be 
added, that whoever makes the trip, with his 
eyes open, will never regret it. The sight is one 
of which no description, however graphic or mi- 
nute, can give a just idea. 

The best way of making the passage, whether 
in the muddy season, or in the season of ice, is 
to travel on foot. It is the most independent, 
enabling the visitor to pursue his investigations 
with greater freedom, and is, moreover, in ge- 
neral, the most expeditous way. A flat-boat is an 
abomination, and a horse — especially such as 
they have on the Creek — is vanity and vexation 
of spirit. Strike out boldly on foot, and pull 
your legs up when they disappear from sight, 
remembering that if you descend deep enough 
you may strike oil. There is a choice of paths 
in going down or up the Creek, the difference 
between them being that each is muddier than 
the other, and that you are certain to select the 
muddiest. 

The morning we set out from Shaeffer's, heading 
down creek, was intensely cold, with some little 
flying snow. The ground was frozen hard, with 



68 DOWN OIL CREEK TO OIL CITY. 

ridges and knobs, making the travelling even 
worse than it would be in soft mud. Not unfre- 
quently what appeared to be solid ground would 
prove to be a mere thin crust, covering a deep 
mud-hole, into which an unwary step would 
send the unlucky traveller knee-deep, sorely to 
the wear and tear of Christian patience and for- 
bearance. 

After leaving Shaeffer's Earm the route lay 
through the Stephenson and Gregg farms. 

With every rock and turn of the sinuous creek 
the derricks increased in number, and the w^heeze 
and clank of the engines grew louder and more 
confused. Climbing around the bluffs, over a 
steep path, then striking the newly graded track 
of the unfinished Oil Creek Eailroad, chiselled 
out of the face of the cliffs, and at last descend- 
ing to the half-frozen mud of the valley, we came 
out on the Foster Farm, crowded thickly with 
derricks and engines, groaning and creaking 
with the labor of pumping up the liquid treas- 
ures of the earth, more valuable than the golden 
waters of the ancients. About sixty derricks 
were massed together on this little tract of land, 
most of them with their black, greasy vats, some- 
times ranged in a row, capable of holding each 
from five to ten thousand dollars' worth of oil, 
and several of them full. New derricks were 
going up, and engines stood around, waiting to 



DOWN OIL CREEK TO OIL CITY. 69 

be put up in the proper places and set to work. 
By the roadside is a row of vats, at one end of 
the row being the time-stained and greasy der- 
rick of the famous Sherman well, whose history 
has already been given. Xear it is the Porter 
well, which in May, 1864, commenced flowing 
about a hundred and fifty barrels daily, bat now 
pumps from fifteen to twenty barrels. On this 
farm are the wells of the Briggs Oil Company, 
and across the Creek are those of the Gillette 
Oil Company, both under the management of 
3Ir. J. T. Briggs. who also manages the property 
of the Indian Eock Oil Company. The Briggs 
Company has been enabled to j^ay heavy divi- 
dends from its receipts. The Gillette Company's 
wells, on the Espy Farm across the Creek, are 
partly producing and partly boring, the prospects 
being very good for the proprietors. Close to 
these wells are the old Bucke^^e and the Buckeye 
Belle wells. The Buckeye formerly flowed largely, 
and bears an extensive reputation from the fact 
that it was the oil of this well which Mr. J. T. 
Briggs shipped to Europe as a sample, being the 
first American rock oil ever sent across the At- 
lantic. Having lain idle for some time the well 
became choked, but has been restored by an air- 
pump and is now doing well. The famous Xoble 
well, which in 1863 flowed twenty-five hundred 
barrels daily, and still flows largely, is on the same 



70 DOWN OIL CREEK TO OIL CITY. 

side of the Creek as the Grillette Company wells, 
a little above. There also is the Crocker well, 
struck in 1863, and flowing largely for a consid- 
erable time, but now pumping. 

Here became visible the usual system of trans- 
portation adopted for oil and fuel, which is flat- 
boating on the creek. Four horses abreast are 
attached to a flat-boat, which they haul up stream, 
the horses taking the middle of the creek. The 
bed of the stream is even and covered with loose 
flat shale rock, the water being up to a horse's 
belly. An Oil Creek flat-boat generally holds 
from eighty to one hundred barrels of oil, on 
which the freight up is from seventy cents to 
one dollar, freight on coal being in proportion. 
As the boats sometimes make two trips a day, 
the business is highly profitable, though any- 
thing but pleasant, especially to the horses. As 
we passed down the creek the weather was in- 
tensely cold, and the ice was floating down in 
large masses, but the unhappy horses had to 
wade up with their heavy loads, their bodies 
partially clad in icy coats of mail, and their tails 
mere bunches of icicles. If it is borne in mind 
that these horses had to be from three to four 
hours in this icy water, without relief or rest, 
and that even saddle-horses have to wade the 
stream several times in making the journey, the 



DOWN OIL CREEK TO OIL CITY. 71 

short lives and the wretched character of the 
live-stock in that region will not be wondered at. 

Passing one or two '' runs'' with derricks going 
up or wells going down, we strike the McElhin- 
ney Farm, on both sides of the creek, punched as 
full of holes as a strainer. Here is the famous 
Funk well, the first flowing well on the creek, 
that kept up its stream of wealth for fifteen 
months, and, close by, the Empire well, that 
gushed forth three thousand barrels daily, and 
flooded the land around with oil a foot deep. 

The Funk well is now silent and its lips dry, 
but the old Empire, after two years of steady 
flow, followed by a pumping yield of about a 
hundred barrels daily, and then a stubborn re- 
fusal to give another drop, has been induced, by 
the gentle persuasion of a " blower,'' or air pump, 
to send up about a hundred barrels a day. 

Passing through the Boyd Farm, on the East 
side of the Creek, on which there were fewer 
wells than on the tracts on either side of it, we 
crossed the stream to the G-. W. IVIcClintock 
Farm, where the throng of derricks, the clus- 
tered houses, and the flag-pole in front of a 
tavern, marked the presence of " Petroleum 
Centre.'' Here the wells are crowded as thickly 
as houses in the most populous part of a city, 
dwellings and engine houses being mixed up in 
such inextricable confusion that it is difficult to 



72 DOWN OIL CREEK TO OIL CITY. 

distinguish one from the other without entering, 
and not always then. A ravine enters the Creek 
at this point from the West, and near the mouth 
are several producing wells, among others the 
Wild Cat wells, on the Gillespie property. 

Ee-crossing the river to the East side we came 
out on the Hyde and Egbert Farm, one of the 
most noted parts of the Creek from the number 
of important wells on it, among them being the 
Coquette, which is now flowing a large fortune 
into the pockets of its owners. Like most of the 
original owners of property on Oil Creek, both 
Dr. Egbert and his partner were men of small 
means before they struck oil, though both are 
now very wealthy. Several of the great flowing 
w^ells of the Creek are on their farm, and as the 
land owners have an interest — generally one- 
half — in the oil raised, a comfortable income is 
secured. Here is the Maple Shade, which for 
months ran a thousand barrels daily, now drop- 
ped to fifty; the Jersey, which still flows three 
hundred and twenty; the four Keystone wells, 
which have aggregated two hundred and sixty 
barrels ; and a number of other flowing wells, in- 
cluding the Coquette. There are, in all, on these 
forty acres, sixteen flowing wells, and sixteen 
pumping wells, all yielding. 

The Coquette being one of the latest great 
^^ sensations," is an object of much curiosity, and 



DOWN OIL CREEK TO OIL CITY. 73 

many pilgrims come daily to gaze in wonder and 
envy on it. Steps have been erected and visitors 
are admitted to a sight of the oil pouring into 
the tank on payment of ten cents. A romantic 
story is told in connection w4th this well. It is 
said the brother of the superintendent of the 
property had a dream in which he fancied that 
an Indian menaced him with bow and arrow. At 
that moment a lady friend, who had been con- 
sidered somewhat of a coquette, advanced stealth- 
ily and handed him a rifle with which he fired at 
his foe. The Indian disappeared, and from the 
spot where he had stood gushed out a river of 
oil. Visiting his brother soon after, he recognized 
a place on the Egbert Farm as the scene of his 
dream, and pointed out the spot from whence the 
stream of oil burst forth. His brother marked 
the spot and bored the Coquette well, which 
commenced flowing fifteen hundred barrels daily, 
then fell to one thousand barrels, and now gives 
about six hundred barrels, regular daily yield. 
Owing to the volume of gas in the well the oil 
rushes out like spray with such violence that at 
first it blew entirely across the tank, and satu- 
rated the ground around. A covering of boards 
has now been placed at the mouth of the pipe, 
and against this the stream plays with a force 
resembling the stream of a steam fire-engine 
striking the side of a house. The quality of the 
7 



74 DOWN OIL CREEK TO OIL CITY. 

oil was at first not of the best kind, being "riley " 
and of a yellowish color instead of the dark green 
of pure oil. It has now greatly improved and 
sells at full prices. There are twelve tanks hold- 
ing from twelve hundred to sixteen hundred bar- 
rels each, full of oil, worth in the aggregate over 
$150,000, in addition to what has been barrelled 
and sold. All around are notices warning visitors 
against smoking, the air being full of highly in- 
flammable gas. A share in the Coquette is consid- 
ered a " moderate " fortune. In January of this 
year Dr. Egbert sold one-twelfth interest in the 
Coquette for $250,000. Four years ago he 
bought the entire forty acres on which these flow- 
ing wells are located for one thousand dollars,' 
taking his last dollar to pay the sum. 

Passing the Ehinoceros well, the Porcupine 
well, the Eam Cat well, and a whole menagerie 
of other wells, we came to the Story Farm, 
crowded with derricks and wells. Here are the 
locations of the Columbia and Dalzell Oil Com- 
panies, two noted Pittsburgh Companies, the 
former being one of the most successful in the oil 
regions, returning larger profits to its original 
stockholders than any other company. Its his- 
tory is such a remarkable instance of profitable 
investment that it will be read with interest. 
The Columbia was organized in 1862, and pur- 
chased the Story Farm for $128,000 from a com- 



DOWN OIL CREEK TO OIL CITY. <5 

pany of seven persons^ of Pittsburgh, who in 1859 
bought the farm for a few thousand dollars. The 
Columbia Company was organized with a capital 
of 8200.000, divided into 10,000 shares of a par 
value of 820 each. During the year 1862 the 
stock varied in price from 82 to 810 per share. 
At this time the chief difficulty with the company 
was the receipt of twelve hundred barrels of oil 
per day and no market for it. But a foreign de- 
mand soon sprang up, and between 1862 and 1864 
the Company divided 8300,000. In April, 1864^ 
870.000 was divided, in May following 8100,000 ', 
and 8100,000 in June. The dividends between 
July and December were 8625,000, making a total 
of dividends since the formation of the company 
of $1,195,000, more than five times the amount of 
original capital. In June, 1864, the old shares 
were called in and new ones issued of 850 each, 
the holder of an original 820 share receiving -^ve 
new ones, of 850 each. The person who paid one 
year and a half ago the par value of 820 each for 
one hundred shares, and has held his stock, has 
received 812,000 in dividends to December, and 
from the profits on the increase of capital made in 
June last, obtained an accession to his stock of 
four hundred shares, which shares are worth, with 
his original hundred shares, at present market 
prices, 842,500, making a clear profit of 852,500 
in eighteen months. If he bought the original 



76 DOWN OIL CREEK TO OIL CITY. 

shares at their lowest price, $2 each, that profit 
was made on a capital of $200. 

Next below the Story Farm, on the East side, is 
the Tarr Farm, on which is the famous Philips 
well, which flowed two thousand barrels daily for 
many months. The owner of the Tarr Farm in 
years past was a poor and uneducated man, who 
eked out a meagre livelihood by lumbering in 
addition to scratching the barren hill for a scanty 
crop. Poor as the surface crops may have been, 
the soil below has sent up products so rich that 
the lucky owner is now an exceedingly wealthy 
man, who lives in splendid retirement at a small 
town not far from Meadville. The farm is covered 
with wells, nearly all of which, if not the whole, 
are successful. Judging from a superficial exami- 
nation, this appears to be one of the most success- 
ful territories on the Creek as it certainly is one 
of the most muddy. Here we came across a team, 
stuck in a mudhole, the fore-wheels clear under 
and the hind-wheels invisible to the hub. The 
teamster, who, judging from that portion of him 
above ground, was probably a six-footer, stood 
contemplating the situation with dismay. In 
passing we ventured to remark, " Mister, guess 
you are stuck." It was a daring remark to make 
under the circumstances, and nothing could be 
expected in response less than a volley of curses, 
deep and dire. That such a proceeding suggested 



DOWN OIL CREEK TO OIL CITY. TT 

itself to the mind of the teamster was evident by 
the look of his eye, but, after revolving the whole 
matter, he concluded he could not do justice to 
the subject, and with one look at the '• stalled " 
team and another at us, he gave a heavy groan, 
and responded, ^^' Well it looks like it ! " 

Through muddy ilats and up steep hill-sides; 
past throngs of derricks; by gushing flowing 
wells, and creaking pumping wells ; through the 
Blood Farm, where the dilapidated, unpainted, 
moss-covered and time-stained house, in which 
the owner of the farm lived in his days of poverty, 
is confronted by the smart and showy boarding 
house erected for the use of its employees by the 
Kew York company now owning most of the 
wells, at last we reach the Eynd Farm, and the 
mouth of Cherry Tree Eun. Here the wells 
again become very thick, and abundant evi- 
dences exist of a large number of them being 
productive. 

On this farm are two peculiar wells, the ''Agi- 
tator" and the '-'Sunday." The Agitator has to 
be pumped for a few strokes every half hour, 
when it flows for ten or fifteen minutes. The 
'•Sunday" well, close by, produces nothing on 
week days, when the "Agitator" is worked, but 
on the Sabbath, when the -'Agitator's" pump 
rests from its labors, the " Sunday" flows about a 
couple of barrels. 



78 DOWN OIL CREEK TO OIL CITY. 

The widow McClmtock, or Steele Farm, lies 
below the Eynd Farm. A large number of valu- 
able w^ells are on this property, yielding a 
splendid revenue to the proprietor of the land, 
John W. Steele, who has but just come of age. 
The Buchanan Farm comes next in line, and at 
this point, near the village of Eouseville, another 
of the villages born of the oil excitement, is the 
old Taylor well that once flowed largely, but 
stopped after yielding sixteen thousand barrels, 
when it was left to lie idle. It has recently been 
restored by pumping to about thirty barrels. A 
few rods farther down. Cherry Eun enters Oil 
Creek. Eesisting for the present the desire to 
explore this ravine, now the scene of so much 
excitement on account of the numerous successful 
wells recently struck, we passed on to McClintock- 
ville, on the Hamilton McClintock Farm, a small 
village, partly perched on a high bluff, and partly 
on the low ground on the other side of the Creek. 

Here again was a*throng of w^ells, most of them 
highly successful, with several new wells, many 
of which had ^'struck ile.'' Among these wells 
was one which has been the scene of a curious 
streak of luck. The owner sank his hole to the 
third sand-rock, but found nothing but water, 
He pumped diligently for days, but without find- 
ing a grease spot in his vats, and then abandoned 
his unproductive hole in disgust. At this point 



DOWN OIL CREEK TO OIL CITY. 79 

he was visited by the owner of a neighboring 
well, who had been reaping the benefit of his 
labors, the water drawn up from the unproduc- 
tive well having relieved the adjoining well of 
the stream which had previously caused some 
trouble. The visitor offered to pay the unfortu- 
nate pumj)er thirty-eight dollars per w^eek to 
keep his pumps going, and, rather than abandon 
his engine, the latter agreed, and set to work 
once more. Six months he kept at it, drawing 
pure water out of the hole, to the relief of his 
neighbor, and then he "struck ile," and has since 
been pumping steadily to his own delight and 
the chagrin of his neighbor, whose vein he has 
'' tapped." A nice question of ethics is involved 
in this matter. If the pumper was hired to 
pump his neighbor's water, has he any right to 
pump his oil ? 

In the middle of the river below the McClintock- 
ville bridge, is an old well. Tradition says that 
at this point a spring of oil bubbled up, and the 
Indians were in the habit of coming there to 
skim the oil for medicinal purposes. Here, also, it 
is said the owner of the land gathered the oil by 
soaking a blanket in the stream and wringing 
out the oleaginous fluid in a bucket. A few 
years ago a well was sunk on the spot, but the 
brilliant expectations indulged in by the adven- 
turers were never realized. It was not a paying 
investment. 



80 DOWN OIL CREEK TO OIL CITY. 

The Clapp Farm has a number of wells, many 
of them successful, but none of great note. Just 
below the southern line of this tract is Corn- 
planter Eun, coming in from the West. Prepa- 
rations have been made for boring on that terri- 
tory. The Graff Hasson Farm, next above Oil 
City, contained one thousand acres, and was 
purchased in 1856 for $7000. A short time since 
three hundred and twenty-five acres of it sold for 
$750,000. It formerly belonged to Cornplanter, 
the renowned chief of the Seneca Indians. 

Oil City at last. Oil City, with its one long, 
crooked and bottomless street. Oil City, with 
its dirty houses, greasy plank sidewalks, and 
fathomless mud. Oil City, where horsemen ford 
the street in from four to five feet of liquid filth, 
and where the inhabitants wear knee-boots as 
part of in-door equipment. Oil City, which will 
give the dirtiest place in the world three feet 
advantage and then beat it in depth of mud. 
Oil City, where weary travellers think them- 
selves blest if they can secure their claim to six 
feet of floor for the night, and where the most 
favored individual accepts with grateful joy the 
offer of half a bed and the twentieth interest in a 
bed-room. 

Oil City is worthy of its name. The air reeks 
with oil. The mud is oily. The rocks hugged 
by the narrow street, perspire oil. The water 



- DOWN OIL CREEK TO OIL CITY. 81 

shines with the rainbow hues of oil. Oil-boats, 
loaded with oil, throng the oily stream, and oily 
men with oily hands fasten oily ropes around oily 
snubbing-posts. Oily derricks stand among the 
houses, and the "town-pump," if there is such an 
institution, must pump oil. There are several 
productive wells in the city, ranging from five to 
twenty barrels, and the citizens are busy boring 
in their back yards, in waste lots, or wherever a 
derrick can be erected. The Linden well, just 
above the Petroleum House, is remarkable from 
the fact that it commenced to flow on the 10th 
day of October, 1861, at the rate of twenty bar- 
rels per day, and has daily yielded a supply that 
has not varied five barrels during the whole 
period, and appears to be as vigorous to-day as 
when first struck. 

The growth of Oil City is something remarka- 
ble. Until the commencement of oil mining on 
the Greek, there was nothing at the junction of 
Oil Creek and the Alleghany but a small store 
and a tavern or two, frequented by the raftsmen 
who brought their rafts into the eddy and rested 
awhile. In 1861 a settlement was established at 
the mouth of the Creek, and several stores of 
various kinds put up. In the Sj^ring of 1862, 
Oil City was incorj)orated as a borough. There 
are now nearly one hundred stores and work- 
shops of various kinds, to which additions are 

F 



82 DOWN OIL CREEK TO OIL CITY. 

always making. Fourteen hotels, large and 
small, and half a dozen saloons, minister to the 
bodily comforts, whilst the spiritual wants are 
supplied by four churches. Healthy as Oil City 
is claimed to be, there has been found employ- 
ment for eight doctors, who, however, frequently 
mingle oil speculations with their practice. 

In travelling from Shaeifer's Farm to Oil City, 
and not taking into account any of the "Euns,'^ 
over one thousand wells, old and new^, are passed. 
In a short time that number will be largely in- 
creased. 



CHEEET EUX. 



The fact that Oil Creek itself is not the only 
valuable oil producing locality, and that aj)pa- 
rently valueless territory may prove highly pro- 
ductive, has been exemplified in the history of 
Cherry Eun. A year ago this property was 
almost entirely neglected, very few derricks 
were erected on it. and the land was held at 
comparatively low prices. Xow there seems to 
be no limit to the sums asked and paid. The 
principal cause of this excitement is the success 
of the Eeed and Criswell and other flowing wells 
which " struck oil'' on the Eun during the Sum- 
mer and Fall of 1864. The Eeed and Criswell 
well commenced flowing about a thousand bar- 
rels daily, but soon dropped to two hundred and 
eighty barrels, at which it has remained steady 
for several months. The quality of the oil is very 
fine. Soon after the striking of the Eeed well, 
some others commenced fiowing. The excite- 
ment became intense, the rush was tremendous, 

(83) 



84 CHERRY RUN. 

and in a short time all the available property on 
the Eun was taken up at high figures. Failing 
to secnre the fee-simple to the land, the next 
object of the late comers was to secure leases, 
and in order to obtain these the anxious oil- 
seekers were not only ready to give half the oil, 
but to pay large bonuses in addition. Soon the 
valley was planted as thickly with derricks as 
it could possibly hold, where a lease could be 
obtained, and even the steep hillsides were bored 
by the pertinacious oil-seekers. To the utter 
confusion of theorists who hold that oil can only 
be found on the flats, and to the triumph of those 
who hold the opposite opinion, several of the 
wells away up the hillside have proved success- 
ful, which furnishes another proof that the only 
reliable theory is that oil exists wherever it flows 
or can be pumped out of a well, in other words, 
where it is it can be found, and where it is not it 
will not pay for seeking it. Nothing additional 
is charged for this bit of valuable information. 

The scene in going up Cherry Eun is more full 
of excitement than anywhere on the Creek. The 
Eun, at its mouth, is but a narrow gorge between 
steep hills, through which a muddy, rocky, and 
brawling stream wends its way. Pumping wells 
and flowing wells are planted thick along the 
narrow flat, and climb the hills on either side. 
The road is execrable at its commencement, the 



CHERRY RUN. 85 

wagons sinking over the hub, and, at a short dis- 
tance from the Creek, loses its identity in a number 
of deej) ruts looping around in all directions where 
a teamster could force his team in hopes of finding 
a better track. The stream being small and the 
bed rocky, water transportation is not available, 
and powerful teams, drawing wagons loaded with 
five barrels of oil each, go plunging and stagger- 
ing in the mud, and among the rocks that form the 
bed of the stream. Every now and then a wagon 
breaks down, and then the perpetual chorus of 
shouts and oaths becomes intensified in spots, 
making, Avith the noise of escaping steam, the 
clank and jar of the engines and pumps, and 
the rushing of the stream, a noisy entertainment. 
Travelling on the Creek is bad enough, but the 
extreme of diabolical locomotion is not attained 
unless the tramp is taken up Cherry Eun. The 
constant passage of teams not only cuts the roads 
into deep sloughs of mud, but makes the pedes- 
trian keep bobbing around to escape being 
knocked over by them in their erratic courses. 

About two miles up the Eun is the Eeed and 
Criswell, or Eeed well as it is generally known, 
Criswell having sold out his interest for a princely 
sum. In the vicinity of this well are several 
other flowing wells, among them the Baker well, 
credited with one hundred barrels daily; the 
Gruninger, an intermittent flowing well; the 
8 



86 CHERRY RUN. 

Yankee, flowing fifty barrels; and, a short dis- 
tance above, the Auburn, flowing eighty barrels. 
The two acres, on which the Eeed well is located, 
were offered for sale two years ago, for $1500, 
but found no purchasers. It was lately sold for 
$650,000. Next above the Eeed well is the Smith 
Farm, comprising fifty acres. Three or four 
years ago the then owner offered it for sale at 
$250 over the incumbrances. It was afterwards 
sold for $2,400, and resold a year since for $6,500. 
It is now the property of the Cherry Eun Oil 
Company, who have done nothing of themselves 
to develop their property, and have therefore 
been at no expense beyond the original purchase, 
but who are receiving from leases on the territory 
over four hundred barrels of oil daily, in royalty. 
A new well was struck a short distance above the 
Eeed Well in Jannary, flowing two hundred and 
fifty barrels daily, without the sucker rods being 
pulled out. Beyond the Smith Farm is the McFate 
Farm, on which there are several wells either down 
or going down. 

Here the region of producing wells may be said 
to terminate for the present. Above this point 
derricks innumerable are planted along the val- 
ley and hillsides, but engines are scarce. Leases 
are taken and derricks erected thickly to nearly 
ten miles from the mouth, but nothing further 
has been done. The terms of most of the leases 
made on this Eun require that derricks shall be 



CHERRY RUN. 8T 

erected within sixty daySj and engines be on the 
ground within ninety days from the date of the 
lease, and that the work be then prosecuted with 
all reasonable diligence. In order to secure the 
lease as far as possible, the derrick is in all cases 
erected within the required time, but consider- 
able difficulty exists in getting the engines on 
the ground, owing to the great demand on the 
machinists for eno-ines. 

Xearly four miles up the Eun is the Humboldt 
Eefinery, a yeiy extensiye establishment. The 
shipping point of this refinery is on the Alle- 
ghany in Walnut Bend, and in order to facilitate 
transportation the proprietors haye constructed 
a road oyer the mountains, at a considerable ex- 
pense, and established a ferry across the riyer. 
Most of their crude oil is brought from the creek 
in wagons, but a considerable quantity is pumped 
up in pipes from the Tarr Farm. 

Plumer yillage lies a short distance beyond 
the refineries, and about four miles from the 
mouth of the Eun, or seyen miles from Oil City 
by the road. The struggle to get property on 
Cherry Eun has been so eager, that land has 
been purchased or leased for boring piu-poses a 
considerable distance aboye. At the beginning 
of the year 1865, there were on Cherry Eun, 
from Eouseyille to Plumer yillage, one hundred 
and eicrhty-six derricks, and about fifty aboye 
Plumer. 



CHEEEY TEEB EUN, WEIKEL EUN, 

COENPLANTEE EUN, EEED EUN 

AND TWO MILE EUN. 



The Cherry Tree Eun enters Oil Creek from 
the Northwest, on the Eynd Earm. It is a 
ravine of considerable size, with abrupt and lofty 
banks near Oil Creek and widening into a fine 
valley as it approaches the quiet little village of 
Cherry Tree. Until very recently no attention 
was paid to this valley as an oil locality, but the 
great success of the investigations on Cherry 
Eun led to a more careful examination of all the 
ravines in the neighborhood of Oil Creek. There 
are now a number of experimental wells going 
down, nearly as high up the Eun as Cherry Tree 
Mill. None of the wells have as yet reached a 
sufficient depth to fully test their value, except 
one struck in March of the present year, which 
is reported as yielding one hundred barrels 
daily. As with all other partially developed 
territory, the companies engaged in boring are 
very sanguine that Cherry Tree Eun will prove 
(88) 



WEIKEL RUN. b^ 

as miicli of a success as anything in the oil 
regions. 

Weikel Eun branches from Cherry Tree Eiin 
a short distance above its mouth. It is a narrow 
ravine with steep banks, covered with timber. 
It has hitely become favorite territory from the 
belief very largely entertained by experienced 
managers of oil wells that large deposits of oil 
exist in it. The indications certainly favor this 
idea, the configuration of the ravine giving it the 
appearance of a slightly diminished coj^y of 
Cherry Eun. Less than half a mile up is the 
celebrated '^ great gas well/' which made such a 
noise in 1864 by its unprecedented exjDlosions of 
gas. The gas vein was struck in May. when it 
blew with such violence as effectually to put a 
stop to all further attempts at working. The 
volume of gas was tremendous, and its violence 
so great that anything thrown on the hole was 
instantly jerked into the air. Its roaring could be 
distinctly heard for a hundred rods. For nearly 
six months it continued to blow gas without ces- 
sation or apjDarent diminution, until at last the 
hole was plugged after considerable trouble. As 
soon as it was plugged the gas forced a stream 
of water into a well sunk some distance up the 
Eun. 

In December the gaseous manifestations ceased, 
and the proprietors are preparing to sink the well 
8* 



90 CORNPLANTER RUN. 

with the expectation of finding a large deposit of 
oil. Whether their expectations will be realized 
remains to be seen, but on the principle that 
there can be no smoke without a fire there is 
evidently considerable oil in the neighborhood, 
if not immediately under the well. Acting on 
this belief the land around has been taken up by 
companies who propose testing it thoroughly. 
A small patch of land near the w^ell, containing 
a small strip of borable territory and the rest 
" set up edgeways/' has been purchased for $9000 
by a Philadelphia company, and immediately 
above the gas well is the property of the 
" Weikcl Eun and McBlhinney Oil Company. 

A short distance beyond the gas well is another 
w^ell going down, having reached 600 feet. The 
show of oil was very encouraging, and the borers 
were confident of finding oil in considerable 
quantity, as soon as the third sand-rock was 
reached. Other wells in various stages of pro- 
gress are scattered along both sides of the 
stream, considerable activity being displayed in 
developing the property. 

Taking the road from Cherry Tree to the Alle- 
ghany Eiver, Weikel Eun was left behind, and 
we crossed Cornplanter Eun, which enters Oil 
Creek on the Clapp Farm. Preparations are 
making along its banks and bed to bore in the 
spring, but as yet no developments of consequence 



REED RUN AND TWO MILE RUN. 91 

have been made. A little beyond this point we 
left the road and came out on Eeed Eun. a branch 
of Two 3Iile Eun, which comes into the Alleghany 
not far from Franklin. Here were abundant evi- 
dences of a determined search for oil being in 
progress. 

Eeed Eun, is a very attractive territory to 
those who have a good eye for desirable oil loca- 
tions. The bottom land of the Eun, and the 
second bottom a few yards higher, afford as 
good prospect for successful wells as can be found 
on any of the Creeks or Euns in the vicinity of 
Oil Creek. 

]N"ear the Junction of the Eeed with Two Mile 
Eun, is a well, down 350 feet, with good indica- 
tions of oil. 

Two Mile Eun has not yet any producing 
wells, but preparations have been made for 
boring it thoroughly. 



THE ALLEGHANY EIVEE, WITH HICK 
OEY, TIONESTA, HEMLOCK, PITHOLE, 
AND OTHEE TEIBUTAEY CEEEKS. 



During a portion of the summer months, be- 
fore the oil excitement extended far up the river, 
a small steamer occasionally ran up from Frank- 
lin to President, on the Alleghany Eiver, but 
those desirous of going higher up, had to seek 
some other mode of convej^ance. In the Fall 
and Winter months, no boats run above Oil City. 
A road follows the course of the river, with 
ferries at the points where the jutting of the 
precipitous bluffs out into the stream stops the 
way. To those unaccustomed to the region of 
rapidly flowing rivers, these ferries are interest- 
ing novelties. Two strong and lofty poles are 
firmly fixed in the banks and across their tops is 
stretched a stout wire or iron rod, the ends 
fastened to the rocks behind. A "traveller^' or 
pulley wheel is placed on that part of the wire 
which crosses the stream, and from this " travel- 
(92) 



THE ALLEGHANY RIYER. 93 

ler" a line passes to the feny-boat, which is a 
flat. chimsY affair^ on which passengers, horses 
and Ychicles are jumbled together indiscrimi- 
nately. AThen a load is on board, the boat is 
pushed out into the stream, and the force of the 
current carries her OYcr without paddling, or 
care of any kind, the " traYeller/' in its passage 
across the wire, emitting an eerie sound that 
echoes strangely among the wild hills at CYen- 
ing, and proclaims to those who have ears to 
hear, the need of a well of lubricating oil in the 
neighborhood. 

Those wishing to strike the riYcr aboYe Walnut 
Bend, can shorten the distance considerably by 
taking the road from Oil City to Plumer, about 
scYcn miles, and thence by way of ISTeillsburg to 
Tidioute, or striking across to President, reach 
the same point along the river road. The latter 
route is the most interesting, and generally is a 
better road for traYclling. 

A dail}' stage runs from Oil City to Plumer, 
but beyond that there is no public couYcyance. 
Unless capable of performing a long march on 
foot, the best coarse is to get a horse in Oil City, 
and set out early in the morning. It is between 
forty and fifty miles to Tidioute, and there being 
much to see, and Oil City horses not noted for 
speed or bottom, the hours wear away rapidly. 

Eiding up the steep hill-side from Oil City, a 



94 THE ALLEGHANY RIVER. 

fine view is obtained of the lower part of Oil 
Creek with the crowd of wells on the broad flat 
through w^hich the stream runs towards the 
close of its course. A good bird's-eye view could 
be taken from this point, although not represent- 
ing the busiest portion of the oil region, and 
some enterprising photographist may find this 
hint profitable. 

About a mile before reaching Plumer, the road 
crosses Cherry Eun, and the multitude of der- 
ricks in the valley and along the hillsides, testify 
to the favor in which the Eun is held by oil adven- 
turers. The Humboldt Eefinery lies in the Eun, 
to the left of the road, and all the details of its 
extensive area lie open for inspection as on a 
builder's plan. The road at this point is horribly 
cut up by the heavily loaded wagons conveying 
oil to and from the refinery, and is very nearly 
as bad as the principal street of Oil City. Climb- 
ing another low hill the village of Plumer is 
reached, and at the centre of the village the road 
to President branches off to the right. 

Very little can be said in favor of the road 
from Plumer to the river. The first part is bad 
enough, but on reaching Pithole Creek it becomes 
worse. The creek well deserves its name, as it 
winds its way through a gorge, dark, deep and 
forbiddino\ The road winds alone: the face of 
the precipitous sides, the last part of the descent 



THE ALLEGHANY RIVER. 95 

being very steep and exceedingly miry. Long 
before reaching the bottom the rushing sound 
of the waters can be heard. A mill spans the 
stream, the road being carried by a narrow bridge 
across the mill dam, and climbing the other side 
amid crags and boulders at so steep a grade that 
a firm seat and steady hand are necessary in 
making the ascent or descent. 

Pithole Creek obtains its name from some holes 
or small caverns in its sides from which a me- 
phitic gas arises. A dog held close to one hole 
expired in a few minutes, and a goose, put into 
the hole, died in three minutes and soon became 
corrupt. A stone thrown into one of these holes 
can be heard rattling from ledge to ledge in its 
descent, until the sound dies out, rather than 
stops. The existence of these gas exhaling 
caverns led several persons to sink wells in hope 
of finding oil, but, although some success was 
met with at the mouth of the creek, no very 
encouraging results were obtained higher up un- 
til, about the middle of January, 1865, a well on 
the Ilolmden tract, about seven miles from the 
mouth of the creek, and about five miles north- 
eas't of Plumer, in an undeveloped territory, 
struck oil and flowed at the rate of two hundred 
and fifty barrels per day. This created an im- 
mediate excitement, and Pithole Creek was 
swarmed with speculators eager to buy or lease 



96 THE ALLEGHANY RIVER. 

every rod of land in the vicinity. The success 
of this well has demonstrated the fact that large 
supplies of oil can be obtained above the line of 
Oil Creek, and has increased the expectations 
of up-river oil seekers. The surface level of the 
Frazier well, is seven hundred feet above the level 
of Oil Creek, and the oil was found one hundred 
feet above the surface level of Oil Creek. 

A peculiar circumstance connected with this 
Pithole well is the fact that it struck oil in what 
is known as the fourth sand-rock, being the only 
well in the oil regions that has reached that 
stratum. The first sand-rock was reached at 
one hundred and fifteen feet, the second at three 
hundred and forty feet, the third at four hundred 
and eighty feet, and the fourth at six hundred 
feet. At six hundred and eight feet oil was 
struck. The well was drilled in November, but 
was not tubed until the middle of the following 
January. As soon as tubed the pump was set 
to work, and after an hour^s pumping the oil 
began to flow, with the sucker-rods in the cham- 
ber, at the rate of two hundred and fifty barrels 
per day, at which rate it has steadily continued. 
The well is the property of the United States 
Petroleum Company. 

After leaving Pithole Creek there is a good 
road on either side of the river, all the way to 
Tidioute, the hills falling back, or being less 



THE ALLEGHANY RIVER. 9T 

abrupt as the ascent of the stream is made, and 
better farming-land appearing on the bottoms 
and in the rifts of the hills. 

Tidioute, in Warren county, is the highest 
point on the Alleghany where there are pro- 
ducing wells. Above that point there are several 
of what are known as ^' farmers^ wells/' sunk in 
1860 and 1861 by hand to a shallow depth, and 
abandoned when the depression in oil affairs 
occurred. Some attention has again been at- 
tracted to these wells, and preparations have 
been made for sinking them deeper, and also for 
testing the oil-producing qualities of Big Broken 
Straw Creek, which enters the Alleghany above 
Tidioute. 

The Economite wells, owned by a religious 
sect known as the " Economites,'' are nearly 
opposite Tidioute. Five producing wells yield 
an aggregate of about sixty barrels daily, of 
heavy oil, the depth of none of the wells being 
over one hundred and twenty feet. The Econo- 
mite wells are in the side of the steep bluff a 
little way up from the river. The ^^ Brethren'^ 
are putting down several new wells in similar 
locations. On the flat across the river, some 
other parties have put down a well six hundred 
feet without obtaining oil. The Tidioute and^ 
Warren Company, in the immediate neighbor- 
hood of Tidioute, and also on the side hill, have 
9 G 



98 THE ALLEGHANY RIVER. 

recently obtained a pumping well of a hundred 
and fifty barrels per day, at a depth of one hun- 
dred and forty-six feet, of Avhich eleven are in the 
first sand-rock. 

About half a mile below is a well down a nearly 
a thousand feet, belonging to the Tidioute and 
Alleghany Company. Only one sand-rock has 
been passed through, at a depth of one hundred 
and fifty feet. A good show of oil and gas has been 
obtained, but the deposit of oil has not yet been 
reached. On the other side of the river are 
some shallow wells, of the same depth as the 
Economite wells, producing five to six barrels 
daily of lubricating oil. 

' Entering Yenango county, the first point where 
active operations have been commenced is at the 
mouth of West Hickory Creek, on the upper 
part of what is known as the Hickory Town 
Flats. Several companies have located on these 
flats, and are sinking wells, with varying pros- 
pects of success. 

Close to the mouth of the creek, three Scotch- 
men, named McKinley, sank a well in 1861. They 
reached a depth of two hundred and thirty-three 
feet and found a fine supplj^ of oil, promising to 
yield them a rich return for their investment and 
, labor. Just as they were making preparations 
for tubing it the war commenced, and the owners 
of the well became so much alarmed at the con- 



THE ALLEGHANY RIVER. 99 

dition of affairs that they abandoned their un- 
dertaking, and their lease became forfeit. 

On the other side of the river, just opposite the 
McKinley well, is a well down 340 feet, tubed, 
and ready to pump, with a fine show of oil. The 
intensely" cold weather has prevented further 
operations. On East Hickory four wells are 
going down. About a hundred rods below the 
lower well of the Hickory Farm Company a 
Pittsburgh company are putting down a well. 
All of the adjoining lands have been taken up at 
high prices, and in the spring there will be a 
large number of wells sunk in the neighborhood 
of the Hickory. 

About a mile below West Hickory Creek, on 
the same flat, is the property of the Pittsburgh 
and Alleghany Yalley Oil Companj^, covering 
about two hundred and twenty-nine acres. In 
1861 a well was sunk on the property to the 
depth of two hundred and twenty feet, with a 
good show of oil, but was abandoned on account 
of the low price of the product. As yet no work 
has been done on the property by its present 
proprietors beyond the necessary preliminaries 
for commencing operations, but the engines will 
soon be on the ground, and the work of properly 
developing the tract commenced. 

About half a mile below the Pittsburgh and 
Alleghany Company's tract is the Sowers Farm. 



100 THE ALLEGHANY RIVER. 

on which is a well that was struck in 1861 and 
flowed largely, but which, like nearly all the 
wells in the country, was abandoned in conse- 
quence of the low price of oil. It has now been 
put in operation and rendered productive. 

Tionesta Creek comes in from the East a short 
distance below the Sowers Farm, which lies on 
the West bank. A few scattered houses and a 
tavern fronting the {erry landing, form the vil- 
lage of Tionesta. Around the mouth of the 
Creek and along the banks of the river there are 
abundant evidences of oil speculation, past and 
present. Shallow wells, hastily abandoned in 
1861, rear their time-stained derricks on every 
side, whilst workmen, busy getting out timber 
for new derricks, and eager, keen-eyed men, with 
travelling pouches strapped to their sides, out 
"prospecting^^ for desirable sites, show the revi- 
val of interest in oil matters. A number of 
islands stud the surface of the river from 
Tionesta, past Lower Tionesta Creek, down to 
within about a mile of President, and on many 
of these islands old derricks and new derricks 
rear their heads among the unshapely trees. 

The village of President, with its large, new, 
smart hotel, and its respectable gathering of 
houses, marks the junction of Hemlock Creek 
and Porcupine Run with the Alleghany ; above 
the village is the well of the Parrar Oil Company. 



THE ALLEGHANY RIYER. 101 

The whole territory surrounding the village, and 
extending up Hemlock Creek and Porcupine Eun 
in one direction, and down the river a considera- 
ble distance in the other, covering in all 8,400 
acres, is the property of the President Petroleum 
Company, probably the largest corporation yet 
in the oil field, having a capital of five million 
dollars. Three wells are on the property, one 
near the MeCrea Eun, having reached a depth 
of 400 feet, with good show of oil, and two others 
on the river front, just below, going down on a 
lease taken by the Heydrick brothers. 

Like Pithole Creek, Hemlock Creek has some 
strong manifestations of gas, or mephitic vapor. 
A story is told of three young men going along 
the valley in winter and finding the snow melted 
around a hole in the ground. One of them, a 
notoriously profane fellow, swore it was an open- 
ing into hell, and that he intended warming his 
feet at the fire. His comj)anions endeavored to 
dissuade him, but he sat on the ground and stuck 
his feet in the hole, swearing with horrible oaths 
that he would warm his feet there if he had to 
go straight to hell in order to do it, and thanking 
the devil for finding him such an opportune sup- 
ply of fuel. In a few minutes he stopped talking, 
and when his companions dragged him away he 
was totally insensible from the effects of the gas. 

His recovery was very difficult. 
9* 



102 THE ALLEGHANY RIVER. 

Just below the President Company's tract, at 
the foot of a lofty blufP, is the celebrated Heydrick 
Wellj sunk three years ago by the Heydrick 
brothers, young men who lived on the land, and 
who early adventured in grease. The well flowed 
for a considerable time from four to five hundred 
barrels daily, and then pumped one hundred 
barrels. When oil fell to a mere nominal value, 
and an empty barrel was worth its contents in 
oil six times over, the well was allowed to remain 
idle. It has now been started up again and is 
making from twenty-five to thirty barrels daily. 
The farm was owned by two Heydrick brothers 
and a brother-in-law, who, like most of the farm- 
ers in the oil regions, had enough to do to make 
both ends meet. The well sunk on their lands 
has been leased by the Farmers and Mechanics' 
Company, who pay the Heydricks half the oil, a 
tribute which puts a comfortable sum daily in their 
pockets. Four years ago a big flowing well was 
gushing out oil next to the Heydrick property, 
under the management of a Michigan company. 
When the Heydrick well was struck the Michigan 
well stopped, and no attempts have, so far as we 
could learn, been made to recover the vein. The 
Heydrick well has flowed and pumped, to the 
present time, over thirty thousand barrels. 

On the west bank of the river, directly oj)posite 
the Heydrick well, is the Henry Farm, the pro- 



THE ALLEGHANY RIVER. 103 

perty of Hussey and McBride, on which there are 
several productive wells. One has been flowing 
and pumping with large returns for two years, 
and now yields forty barrels a day. Another 
" struck oil " at the depth of 400 feet, and is 
yielding a hundred barrels a day. Still another 
recently struck oil and is giving large returns. 
But the principal well was sunk in 1861, and, at 
the depth of 242 feet, obtained a flow of oil that 
bewildered the proprietors. The greasy fluid 
gushed up at the rate of three hundred barrels a 
day, and continued to flow for three months. 
What to do with the oil was a puzzle. Barrels 
could not be got to ship it to market, nor vats to 
hold it on the ground. Oil was down in the 
market, bringing but ten to fifteen cents a barrel. 
There were no refineries in the neighborhood, and 
like the man who won the elephant in the raffle, 
the proprietors of the flowing well were "put to 
their trumps'' to know what to do with their 
prize. A little ravine close by was dammed up 
and the oil turned into it until about an acre of 
pure oil covered the ground two or three feet 
deep. At last, in despair, the tube was stopped 
with a pine plug, but the grease oozed up and 
escaped. The tube was then bound over with the 
never failing seed-bag, but the oil burst through 
the earth and escaped into the river. Since then 
the well has remained plugged, but it is now to 



104 THE ALLEGHANY RIVER. 

be deepened and re-tubed, when it is expected the 
old vein will be again reached. 

Next above the Henry Farm, and lying across 
the mouth of Culbertson Eun, is the property of 
the Beekman Oil Company, on which there are 
three wells, having a good yield of oil. Beyond 
this, on the McCrea Flats, is the Kelley well, 
now owned by the Cleveland and Buffalo Petro- 
leum Company. This well pumps from twenty 
to twenty-five barrels of oil daily. 

Near the property of the Cleveland and Buffalo 
Company, on Culbertson Eun, is that of the Mc- 
Crea Petroleum Company of Pittsburgh. The 
tract leased by the McCrea Company is partly on 
the opposite side of the Eun to that of the Cleve- 
land and Buffalo Company, and also overlaps the 
stream for a short distance. A well was sunk on 
the property in 1861, reaching 280 feet with a 
fine show of oil, when the break-down in the 
price of oil occurred, and the well was abandoned. 
Two engines have been purchased and are on the 
ground, to sink new wells, besides drilling the old 
one deeper. 

On the McCrea Farm, lying between the pro- 
perty of the Beekman Company and the lands of 
the McCrea Company and Cleveland and Buffalo 
Company, is the territory of the Eagle Company, 
of Philadelphia, which "struck oil" during the 
last week of January, in one of their wells, which 



THE ALLEGHANY RIVER. 105 

is now running over fifty barrels daily. This 
strike has made the property of other companies 
in the neighborhood increase greatly in value. 

Past Pithole Creek, with the numerous wells 
clustering around its mouth, some of them pro- 
ducing a fair yield, down to Walnut Bend and 
Walnut Island. All along, the numerous spires 
of smoke from engine houses, the creak and 
wheeze of engines, and the steady plash in the 
black and greasy vats, told the story of remune- 
ration for faith and labor. On Walnut Island a 
hundred-barrel well was struck early in January 
this year, and gives signs of increasing. 

From this point down the bluffs increase in 
height and steepness, and the flats are generally 
of less extent. Derricks line the narrow path at 
the foot of the bluffs, sometimes climb part of the 
way up the sides, and are planted thickly w^her- 
ever there is a moderately wide shelf, or where a 
stream makes an opening in the hills. At Horse 
Creek, on the East side of the river, the Eoss Oil 
Company's well is pumping about twenty barrels 
per day, and some other wells on that side are 
doing more or less, among them being the 
Wheeler well, doing thirty barrels. On the 
West side of the river, after getting a short dis- 
tance below Walnut Bend, is the Hulings well, 
pumping twenty barrels. The Phillips well, un- 
productive, having stopped its yield some time 



106 THE ALLEGHANY RIVER. 

since ; the managers are putting down a new 
well. The Eevenue well, opened three years 
ago, abandoned, and now running, under new 
management, about twenty -five barrels a day. 
The gas from this well is used to save a part of 
the fuel in the engine fires. About opposite 
Horse Creek is the Brady Bend well, formerly 
flowing, now pumping ; College and Kincaid and 
Porter wells, four years old, and now revived 
and pumping each eight barrels per day. Kin- 
caid new well, that pumped sixty barrels per day 
for the first three days of its working in Novem- 
ber, and now doing finely. Harrington well, 
pumping twenty-five barrels. 

Farther down stream is the well of Long & 
Gay, pumping at a depth of 530 feet, with a fair 
yield. Beyond are the wells of Purchase & Co., 
two wells sunk in 1861 and abandoned, now 
cleaned out and pumped with one engine. One 
^vell commenced pumping in September, 1864, at 
the depth of 348 feet, yielding fifteen barrels, 
with considerable gas. The other was pumped 
two months later, and gives twenty-two barrels, 
from a depth of 517 feet. Five minutes' walk 
distant is a well down 530 feet with a fair show 
of pil. The derrick bears the legend of ''Oil, 
or China,'^ and the borer swore he would either 
raise the oil or send his drill " up" through some 
Chinaman's cellar floor. Still nearer Oil City is 



THE ALLEGHANY RIVER. 107 



the Alcorn Farm, on which are the two wells 
leased by the Cleveland Cherrj^ Yalley Com- 
pany. One of these wells is down 600 feet, and 
has commenced pumping oil, with every prospect 
of yielding in the neighborhood of one hundred 
barrels daily as soon as properly worked. The 
other well is down 200 feet, with a good show of 
oil. These wells will undoubtedly prove a valua- 
ble adjunct to the other property of the company, 
and enable them to pay good dividends on the 
stock. 

From this point to Oil City, about one mile, 
there are a number of old wells and new wells, 
the latter just commenced to go down, and some 
of the former recently cleaned out and prepared 
to be sunk deeper. 

From Oil City to Franklin is seven miles. 
The scenery along this part of the Alleghany 
river differs but little from that above Oil City, 
which has already been described. Where the 
bluffs approach the river they tower up to a con- 
siderable height, rising abruptly from the water, 
and having their craggy sides partly covered with 
timber. Where the bluffs recede, there is, be- 
tween them and the river, a strip of tillable land, 
sometimes a quarter of a mile wide, and then 
narrowing to a mere ribbon, which is at length 
terminated by the steep bluffs. These intervals 
of low land generally consist of two levels, one 



108 THE ALLEGHANY RIVER. 

but little above high water mark, and the other 
a plateau from ten to thirty feet above. 

All along the river-bank, on both sides, are oil 
wells, some of them yielding successfully, and 
others not yet sunk to the oil basin. Most of 
the wells are sunk on the strip of low land imme- 
diately adjoining the river, but a few are on the 
plateau, and several along the base of the steep 
bluffs or on ledges a few feet up the face of the 
bluff. Several of the wells gave good evidence 
of a fair yield, the stream of oil being of paying 
size and good color. Few have as yet properly 
developed their property, not having gone down 
to the third sandstone, w^hich here lies deep, but 
contenting themselves with the yield from the 
less productive second sandstone. 

The fact that all the wells along this part of 
the river are only down to the second sandstone, 
makes it evident that they cannot give as large 
a yield as the great flowing wells on Oil Creek, 
that are down to the third rock. But the corre- 
sponding fact that the second rock wells all yield 
lubricating oil, commanding more than double 
the price of the Oil Creek product, is a complete 
offset to the smaller yield. By boring from 
thirteen hundred to two thousand feet, it is 
believed that the third sand-rock can be reached, 
with a greater flow of oil than can now be ob- 
tained on Oil Creek. The correctness or error 



THE ALLEGHANY RIVER. 109 

of this assumption will be tested before long, as, 
lower down the river, some well-owners think of 
sinking two thousand feet, if the third rock is 
not found at a less depth. The fact of the su- 
perior facilities for shipment possessed by wells 
on the river, especially within the limits of 
regular steamboat navigation, is too self-evident 
to need argument. It is enough to add that the 
expense of getting the oil to the place of ship- 
ment is always taken out of the price of the oil 
at the wells, and that oil produced on the river 
will always therefore bring a higher price than 
the same quality produced at a less accessible 
place. 

Passing several wells in operation, old wells 
being cleaned out and prepared for re-working, 
and new wells boring, Franklin was at length 
reached, the quaint old capital of Yenango 
county, with its old-fashioned houses, its muddy 
streets, and its miserable tumble-down Court- 
house, in which land-sales of from one to three 
million dollars a day are recorded, and documents 
of incalculable value are stored without a vault 
to protect them from the accident of fire, The 
average consumption of revenue stamps in the 
Eecorder's of&ce is estimated at about 8500 j)er 
day, making a very handsome revenue to the 
government. 

Franklin is a very old settlement,, being the 
10 



110 THE ALLEGHANY RIVER. 

site of three forts, Fort Yeiiango, established by 
the French, a fort built by the British, and Fort 
Franklin, built by the Americans in the war of in- 
dependence. In 1795, the town of Franklin was 
laid out on the site of the last named fort, and 
afterwards became the capital of Venango county. 
It now contains a population of about thirty- 
five hundred, and is a growing place. A suspen- 
sion bridge spans the river at this point, the old 
bridge having been burned down over eighteen 
months since, by some blazing oil-boats that took 
fire in the great conflagration at Oil City. Frank- 
lin is the present terminus of the branch of the 
Atlantic and Great Western Eailway, over which a 
very large business is done. The Jamestown and 
Franklin Eailroad, partly built, will also connect 
Franklin with Cleveland and Buifalo, by way of 
Ashtabula and the Lake Shore Eailroad, 

There are several wells in operation within 
the borough limits, and the product is very satis- 
factory to^the owners. Below Franklin the river 
is lined with wells for several miles, many new 
ones going down, and several old ones flowing 
and pumping. Among the producing wells are 
the Keystone Well, pumping about four barrels; 
the Lee Well, about five hundred feet deep, and 
flowing about fifty barrels ; the Dale & Morrow 
Well, pumping about thirty barrels from a depth 
of four hundred and fifty feet; the Hoover-Island 



THE ALLEGHANY RIVER. Ill 

Well, on the first island below Franklin , pumping 
and flowing seventy-five barrels daily. A num» 
ber of wells with fair yield of oil are scattered 
along the river to a distance of several miles. 

On East Sandy Creek, which enters the Alle- 
ghany a short distance below Franklin, from the 
East, a well yielding one hundred and fifty bar- 
rels, has been struck immediately above the junc- 
tion with the river. A number of wells are going 
down for several miles up the stream. 

On Big Sandy Creek, which enters the river 
below from the West, there are several wells 
going down, one of which is reported to have 
struck oil in large quantity early in April of the 
present year. On the Big and Little Scrubgrass, 
lying still farther south, there are several wells 
going down. 



FEENCH CEBEK, SUGAE CEEEK, AND 
OTHEE OIL LOCALITIES. 



From Franklin to Meadville, twenty-eiglit 
miles, the Franklin Branch of the Atlantic and 
Great Western Eailway runs along the bank of 
French Creek, an important and pretty stream, 
considerably larger than Oil Creek during the 
greater part of its length, and also deeper. For 
several miles up the Creek there are old wells 
and new wells, several of the latter producing 
oil; among the most noted being one on the 
Sutley Farm, a short distance above Franklin, 
and the well of the Tallman Company, near 
Utica Station. The oil produced on French 
Creek, being of a heavy lubricating quality, bears 
a higher value than that of Oil Creek. The land 
along nearly the whole length of the Creek has 
been purchased or leased for boring, and most of 
the abandoned wells of 1861 have been taken by 
new companies who have the capital and energy 
to properly test the property. 
(112) 



TRENCH CREEK AND SUGAR CREEK. 113 



A favorite region at the present time is Sugar 
Creek, which takes its rise in Cherry Tree town- 
ship, Yenango county, on the same tract out of 
which Cherry Tree Eiin flows. It passes through 
the Borders of Phim and Oakland townships, in 
a Southwest direction, to Cooperstown in Jack- 
son township, and then runs nearly due South 
through Sugar Creek township to French Creek, 
which it strikes about two miles above Franklin. 
It receives several branches, the largest of which 
is West Suo;ar Creek, which rises in Suo-ar Lake, 
just over the Crawford county border, and joins 
the main creek at Cooperstown. Through its 
whole course it passes through a fine farming 
country, the cultivated flats and hill-sides and 
good roads affording in this respect a decided 
contrast to some portions of the oil regions. 

The Creek is not large enough to afford water 
facilities for shipping oil, but a good road keeps 
along^the flat valley to the junction with French 
Creek, four miles, where there is a station on the 
Franklin Branch of the Atlantic and Great West- 
ern Eailway. In passing up the Creek, evidences 
of explorations for oil, and of the oil itself, become 
speedily visible. About a quarter of a mile above 
the junction with French Creek, on the Homan 
Farm, is the well of the Sugar Creek Company, 
of Philadelphia, struck in February of the present 
year, and yielding, it is estimated, about seventy 
10* H 



114 FRENCH CREEK An5 SUGAR CREEK. 

barrels of lubricating oil. The strike of this well 
caused a rush to Su^ar Creek, and the value of 
lands has increased enormously. Several com- 
panies are busy putting down wells. On the 
McCalmont Farm, about two miles and a half 
above French Creek, is a well put down about 
three years since, and worked by water-power. 
In all, from three to four hundred barrels of heavy 
lubricating oil have been obtained from this well, 
such as now sells at twenty to twenty five dollars 
per barrel at the well. The -hole was only sunk 
to the second sand-rock, reaching a depth of three 
hundred and twelve feet; none of the old wells on 
this creek have gone to a greater depth or pene- 
trated beyond the second sand-rock, the supply 
of heavy oil having induced the owners to stop 
at that point. A company from Eochester leased 
the well, put up an engine, and in a very short 
time struck a vein of pure lubricating oil. 

From this point up there are several wells and 
derricks, but few producing anything of conse- 
quence as yet, until Cooperstown is reached. 
Immediately above the village, on the Booth and 
Hillier Farm, a well similar to that of the Mc- 
Calmont Farm was put down three hundred and 
twelve feet by water power, when it struck lubri- 
cating oil. The well has been purchased by two 
experienced parties from Oil Creek, who are con- 
fident of finding a good supply of oil in the third 



FRENCH CREEK AND SUGAR CREEK. 115 

sand-rock, toward which they are boring, having 
reached a dej)th of six hundred feet. Two wells 
are going down on the Sweeney Farm next above, 
one having got down one hundred feet, and the 
other three hundred feet, the latter striking oil 
at eighty feet. 

Adjoining Cooperstown on the south, and partly 
bounded by the borough line, is the farm of the 
Sugar Creek Company of Cleveland, containing 
one hundred acres, a large proportion of which is 
good boring territory. On an island included in 
the property, is a well put down three years ago 
by hand, to a depth of two hundred and ninety- 
seven feet, with a good show of oil. When the 
panic occurred the well was abandoned. It has 
now been leased and will soon be sunk deeper 
and tubed. Another well is going down on the 
property, and preparations made for a third well. 
A company from Cleveland and Sandusky have 
purchased the Alexander Farm, next below the 
Smith Farm, and are j)reparing to sink wells. 

Cooperstown was a quiet little village, until 
about two years ago, when it was the halting 
place for the teams carrying oil from Oil Creek to 
Meadville and other points on the Atlantic and 
Great Western main line. Then the quiet and 
order w^as rudely broken in upon. Long lines of 
wagons stretched along the streets. The taverns 
were crowded with jovial and noisy teamsters, 



116 FRENCH CREEK AND SUGAR CREEK. 

and the gutters were greasy with oil. When the 
Franklin Branch Eailroad was built the teaming 
across the country was stopped, and Cooperstown 
reverted to its former quietness until the sudden 
excitement on Sugar Creek a few months since. 
Now all is changed, and the demon of oil has un- 
restricted sway in the village. Land offices and 
petroleum agencies are to be seen on all sides, and 
nothing is talked of or thought about but oil. 

In the " Historical Collections of the State of 
Pennsylvania/' published in 1843, is an interest- 
ing note in relation to the Indian relics said to 
have been found in Cooperstown and its vicinity. 
The writer says, " Skeletons were dug out of the 
bank near the mill-dam in that place. The whole 
valley of Sugar Creek once sustained a dense 
Indian population. Tradition says that the 
French, a century ago, worked silver mines on 
the spot where the village of Cooperstown stands. 
When the dam was being erected for the mill 
they made quite an excavation in front of the 
place now occupied by the store of Fetterman 
& Bradley. Some six feet below the surface a 
quantity of charcoal was found, together with a 
furnace and smelting vessel. Several specimens 
of ore were obtained also. The vein appears to 
be under the bed of the stream, as a deep excava- 
tion has been made there. This tradition exactly 
corresponds with an idea I have for many years 



FRENCH CREEK AND SUGAR CREEK. 117 

entertained, viz. : that an abundance of lead, and, 
perhaps, of the precious metals, will yet be dis- 
covered in this county. The Indians undoubtedly 
procured their lead somewhere in this vicinity. 
Indian chiefs have been known to take silver ore 
from this section to Canada and trade it to 
British merchants. An aged chief of the name 
of Eoss confidentially assured an old citizen of 
this count}^, that there w^ere metals found and 
mines worked by the Senecas. He and Black 
Snake, a Seneca chief, concur in stating that 
there were mines between this place and Cone- 
wango ) one is about seven miles from Coopers- 
town ; the second mine was near Pithole, not 
far from ]\Ir. Holeman's. It is called ' Cushing,' 
from the Seneca word 'cush,' meaning hog." 

From Cooperstown to Utica is but a short 
drive, and not a long walk. There the cars can 
be taken for Meadville, and thus the grand circuit 
of the Venango county oil regions be completed. 
The weary traveller will be glad to exchange the 
discomforts and hardships of his tour for the 
warm welcome and luxurious comforts that await 
him at the McHenry House. 



OTHBE PENNSYLVANIA OIL TEREI- 
TORY. 



In the foregoing pages a full description has 
been given of the oil region of Yenango county, 
Pennsylvania. There are, however, several other 
localities in the State where oil has either been 
proved or is supposed to exist, in considerable 
amount. The Upper Alleghany and the Broken 
Straw Creek, in Warren county, have been selected 
by many oil seekers as desirable sites for invest- 
ment, and numerous wells are going down on the 
banks of those streams and their tributaries. So 
far, no practical result has followed those experi- 
ments, although in many instances the "show'' 
is good. In Crawford county, the two branches 
of Oil Creek and the upper portion of French 
Creek have been taken up by speculators, and 
derricks are going up in great numbers. In Erie 
county, wells have been sunk in the city of Erie, 
considerable gas and some oil being found. 

The Clarion river, through Clarion, Elk, Forest, 

and Jefferson counties, has been the scene of great 

(118) 



J 



OTHER PENNSYLVANIA OIL TERRITORY. 119 

excitement on account of the "oil strikes'^ re- 
ported from time to time. A large number of 
wells have been sunk along the Clarion and the 
streams running into it, several of them meeting 
with moderate success. As yet, the Clarion Elver 
territory can only be considered as " very promis- 
ing," although the fact of the existence of oil on 
it has been thoroughly demonstrated. The Ma- 
honing river in Lawrence county, and Slippery 
Eock Creek in Lawrence and Butler, are both 
considered good oil-producing territory. On the 
Slippery Eock about a dozen wells are down or 
nearly down to the proper level, and some are 
producing oil at a depth of six hundred to seven 
hundred feet. 

South of Pittsburgh, on the Monongahela river, 
in Fayette and Greene counties, a number of ex- 
perimental wells are going down. On Dunkard 
Creek, an affluent of the Monongahela, in Greene 
county, several wells have been sunk, with good 
success, and a considerable amount of oil has come 
into market from the Dunkard region. All West- 
ern Pennsylvania appears to have more or less 
oil beneath its surface. 



THE WEST VIEGIISriA OIL EEGION. 



Following the line of the Alleghanies on its 
western slope, the oil region of Southwestern 
Pennsylvania appears to be continued into North- 
western Virginia. Indications of oil have been 
found in the '^Pan Handle," and the counties 
immediately south of the Pennsylvania line, and 
some experimental wells have been sunk with 
moderate success. But the great oil territory of 
West Yirginia lies on the Little Kanawha and 
Hughes Elvers and the numerous creeks and 
runs pouring into them, or into the Ohio, in 
Pleasants, Eitchie, Wirt, and Wood counties, and 
is known as the " Great Oil Belt.'' The geologi- 
cal formation of this territory differs entirely 
from that lying beyond its limits. The ^'up- 
heaval" or "Oil Belt," extends from the Ohio 
Eiver, opposite the little Muskingum and Duck 
Creek, about forty m..es in a direction a little 
west of south, varying in width from three to ten, 
or perhaps fifteen miles. The rocks are peculiarly 
(120) 



THE WEST VIRGINIA OIL REGION. 121 

disturbed and broken ; the hills, along the nume- 
rous streams and gorges, varying from one to 
three hundred feet high ; and along the centre of 
the belt the rocks are nearly vertical, but dip at 
various angles as they recede on either side, 
forming what is called the East and West slopes. 
By some convulson of nature, the rocks appear to 
have been '-up-heaved," and separated, making 
deep ravines, gorges and gullies, many of which 
have become the permanent beds of streams, 
along the bottoms of which is found the ''boring 
territory" as indicated by the color and character 
of the rocks, and the presence of oil, both on the 
surface and oozing from the fissures of the rocks. 

The principal streams arising in, and running 
through these gorges or openings, and penetrating 
the Great Oil Belt, are the Little Kanawha, 
Hughes Eiver, with its North and South Forks; 
Goose Creek, with its Laurel, Pigeon Boost, Oil 
EuD, Myers, Ellis', Buffalo, and First and Second 
Big Eun Forks ; Mill-Site Eun ; Walker's Creek, 
with its Straight Walker Fork, Silver Eun and 
Bee Tree Eun Forks ; Stillwell Creek, with seve- 
ral forks ; Bull Creek, with its Horse Neck and 
Isaac Forks ; Cow Creek ; Calf Creek ; Eawlson 
Eun Fork; French Creek; Standing Stone Creek; 
Burning Spring Eun, u^d other streams of less 
note. 

This Oil Eegion is completely undeveloped, yet 
11 



122 THE WEST VIRGINIA OIL REGION. 

the existence of Petroleum or British Oil, as it was 
called by the settlers, has been known for more 
than fifty years. Thousands of barrels of oil 
have been taken from pits sunk in the sand on 
the banks of Hughes Eiver. In 1860-61 the high 
oil fever existing in the Venango Valley of 
Pennsylvania, spread out to this region, and 
several enterprising companies and individuals 
commenced boring for oil, on the Hughes Eiver 
at Oil Springs, and on the Kanawha at Burning 
Springs. At the former place a flowing well 
was struck, which, up to to-day, continues to 
flow at the same rate as when first opened, from 
two to six barrels of oil per day. At the Burn- 
ing Springs, the great Llewellyn well was struck, 
which flowed for several months at the rate of 
from fourteen hundred to two thousand barrels 
per day, and is still largely productive. A great 
many wells were commenced at different locali- 
ties; some on Cow Creek, Stillwell, Oil Creek, 
Walker's Creek, and the creeks near the Burning 
Springs, all of which that were not broken up by 
the Eebels at the beginning of the Eebellion, pro- 
duced oil in greater or less quantities. The fifteen 
or sixteen wells on Oil Creek, at Petroleum, 
yielded, and still continue to yield, from two to 
three hundred barrels of superior lubricating oil 
per month, their depth being only from eighty 
to one hundred and sixty feet. 



THE WEST VIRGINIA OIL REGION. 123 

On account of the rebellion, all operations 
were suspended from 1861, up to Sheridan's 
successes in 1864. Since then this region has 
been the theatre of the most intense excitement. 
Experienced oil men from Pennsylvania have 
secured large tracts of oil lands; numerous 
enterprising companies have been formed, secur- 
ing hundreds of acres of the choicest boring 
territory, and to-day, where but recently all was 
so still and desolate, may be seen nearly three 
hundred derricks, and the cheerful puffing of as 
many engines. 

In visiting the oil regions of West Virginia, 
the first point to be made is Parkersburg, which 
is to the West Yirginia oil territory what Oil 
City is to that of Yenango county — the great 
entrepot and shipping point. In coming from the 
East the best route is by rail to Pittsburgh, and 
thence by steamer to Parkersburg ; or by rail via 
Pittsburgh or Cleveland, to Wheeling, and thence 
by steamer to Parkersburg. From the West and 
South steamers can be taken from Cincinnati. 
Baltimore passengers can take the Baltimore and 
Ohio Ptailroad to Grafton, and go thence by North- 
western Yirginia Eailroad directly through the 
heart of the oil region to Parkersburg. 

The principal producing oil territory on the 
Little Kanawha, is Burning Spring Creek, on 
which was the great Llewellyn and other flow- 



124 THE WEST VIRGINIA OIL REGION. 

ing wells of the past. To reach this territory the 
oil-seeker should secure a horse in Parkersburg, 
the distance being about thirty miles. The road 
passes through Elizabethtown, which in 1861 was 
the scene of a great oil excitement, thousands of 
people being there " prospecting.^^ The breaking 
out of the war scattered the oil-seekers, and 
Elizabethtown had other, and far more unwel- 
come visitors, in the shape of guerrillas, who 
hunted up unfortunate Union men instead of oil 
springs, and '' prospected" for plunder rather than 
for well sites. 

Burning Springs Creek enters the Little Kana- 
wha from the llSTorth. The line of the Creek is 
marked by evidences that it was once a scene of 
successful oil enterprise, and that attention has 
again been directed to it. Besides the Llewellyn 
well, already mentioned, there were several other 
flowing wells that produced largely, and some of 
them are still yielding. The Eathbones owned 
a number of wells at Burning Springs, and lost 
heavily when the wells, with twenty thousand 
barrels of oil, were burned by the rebel guerrillas. 
The old "Eternal Centre'' well still flows inter- 
mittently, yielding about twenty-five barrels a 
day. There are some pumping wells, yielding 
from twenty to a hundred barrels. About fifteen 
miles up the Little Kanawha from Parkersburg 
the Hughes Eiver enters from the East, dividing, 



THE WEST VIRGINIA OIL REGION. 125 

a few miles above its point of debouchment, into 
the jS^orth and South Forks. Near the junction 
of the forks are several oil springs and oil wells. 
The land on both forks has been extensively 
taken up by Eastern companies for the purpose 
of develoj^ment. The surface along the route of 
the Hughes Eiver is very much broken. Many 
years ago the petroleum was obtained from the 
banks of the river by digging shallow pits, which 
still are plainly visible. It is said several thou- 
sand barrels were thus obtained. Several wells 
are putting down, but none of them have reached 
a sufficient depth to properly test the territory. 

Goose Creek enters the Hughes Eiver from 
the ]Srorth, and is crossed by the railroad at Petro- 
leum Station. Near this point it is entered by 
Oil Eun, on which there are a number of shallow 
wells. Fifteen wells, known as the "Petroleum 
Wells," are pumped with one engine. 

On the South Fork of Hughes Eiver, near 
McFarland's Eun, is an immense bed of what is 
known as " Petroleum coal," resembling in its 
general features the famous "Albert coal," of 
Nova Scotia. ]t neither resembles coal nor as- 
phaltum in appearance or properties. It is found 
in a ''lode" or vein, running nearly East and 
West. An analysis proved that it yielded by 
distillation one hundred and sixty-nine gallons 
11* 



126 THE WEST VIRGINIA OIL REGION. 

of crude oil to the ton, which, on refining, loses 
only fifteen per cent. 

North of Parkersburg, and higher up the Ohio 
Eiver than Marietta, are Bull, Cow, Calf, Crow, 
and French Creeks. On the latter, and most 
northern, are several wells going down. On 
Crow Creek is one well producing much gas. 
Cow and Calf Creeks are also being thoroughly 
bored. Bull Creek, about thirty miles above 
Parkersburg, is now a favorite oil locality, and 
numerous wells are going down. About six miles 
above its mouth, on Horse Neck Eun, is the cele- 
brated Horse Neck well, which has produced a 
large amount of oil. On Eawson's Eun, which 
connects with Horse Neck Eun, are several wells 
owned by the American Oil Company, and Messrs. 
Tack & Brasher, which have been very successful. 

It is a fact, worthy of consideration, that not a 
single well has been abandoned on account of the 
failure or non-appearance of oil, while in almost 
all other oil regions, a large number have been 
abandoned as ^' dry wells.'' It is believed that 
no greater or more productive wells have been 
opened in any region, than in West Virginia, and 
in proportion to the time spent and capital in- 
vested, nowhere has the enterprising oil-seeker 
found a more sure and abundant return. The 
development in Pennsylvania began about ten 
years ago, a vast amount of capital has been ex- 



THE WEST VIRGINIA OIL REGION. 127 

pended, and nothing has occurred to retard the 
vigorous prosecution of explorations. The suc- 
cess there has been very great, almost fabulous. 
In West Virginia, the enterprise is but just begun, 
yet all experienced oil men, and the most skilful 
geologists, concur in the belief that the same 
time and similar enterprise will develop here an 
equal, if not a greater yield of oil. At Horse 
Neck there are some twenty wells, producing 
from ten to sixty barrels per day. D. H. AYallace, 
in company with the Phillipses, of Oil Creek, 
own about five thousand acres of oil territory on 
and in the vicinity of Bull, Cow, and Calf Creeks, 
and have some sixty wells in operation, or in 
process of boring, with suitable engines. There 
are several wells going down on Stillwell ; one on 
Walker's Creek, by Mr. Murray, near the Smith 
Farm, having a fine show of oil at the depth of 
one hundred and sixty feet, and having at thirty 
feet gone through a stratum of copper ore. of 
superior quality, about thirteen feet thick. Mr. 
Candy has two wells in progress above the Petro- 
leum Wells. The Great Belt Oil Company, of 
Cleveland, have one well down over three hun- 
dred feet on the Hall Farm, and one two hundred 
and sixty feet on the Sharpnack Farm, near the 
^^ Oil Springs," with oil sufficient to warrant 
tubing. The wells on Oil Creek, known as the 
Petroleum Wells, are doing finely, considering 



128 THE WEST VIRGINIA OIL REGION. 

the fact that fifteen of them are pumped by one 
engine. That company is putting down several 
new wells, with every show of success. 

The Baltimore Company, Mr. Cannon, Presi- 
dent, are prosecuting their works with becoming 
energy near the Oil Springs, on Mill-side Eun, 
just below the Sharpnack Farm of the Great 
Belt Oil Company, where they have one well 
down over five hundred feet with every prospect 
of success, and two more engines and derricks up 
and nearly ready for work. The wells in the 
vicinity of Burning Springs are all making a 
good yield, and next spring a large number of 
wells will be put down on the Eathbone tracts 
and on the Standing Stone, by several enterpris- 
ing companies. 

Prom the number of working companies formed, 
it is safe to predict that during the coming year 
rich developments will be made, and great wealth 
accumulated in the region of the Grreat Oil Belt 
of West Virginia. 

The oil found in West Virginia is of superior 
quality. Most of the shallow wells produce a 
lubricating oil, very heavy and of great value, 
the illuminating oil having none of the offensive 
odor that is sometimes found ; it is of excellent 
quality for refining. The lubricating oil com- 
mands readily thirty dollars at the wells. Geolo- 
gists and experienced oil men concur in the belief 



THE WEST VIRGINIA OIL REGION. 129 

that the illuminating oils will be found by sinking 
the wells producing the lubricating oil to or 
through the third sandstone. 

So far as has yet been discovered by boring, 
the description and strata of rocks in the West 
Yirginia region are the same as those in Venango 
county, Pennsylvania. The upheaval is composed 
of a reddish brown sandstone. The strata below, 
as found by boring in the valleys of the streams, 
are about as follows in both regions, Varying 
somewhat as the break or the slopes of the Belt 
are approached. First sandstone, from thirty to 
two hundred feet ; soft rock or shale, from ten to 
one hundx'ed feet ; second sandstone, from fifty 
to one hundred and fifty feet; shale or soapstone, 
ten to thirty feet ; third sandstone, from sixty to 
one hundred feet ; shale or soapstone, from thirty 
to fifty feet ; fourth sandstone, from sixty to one 
hundred feet ; limestone. 



SOUTHBEN OHIO OIL EBGION. 



DiREOTLY across the Ohio Eiver, in a line with 
the West Virginia Oil Belt, is a productive oil 
territory, embracing Washington, Meigs, Athens, 
Morgan, and Noble counties. The business centre 
of the district is Marietta, which can be reached 
by rail from Cincinnati, or by steamer from any 
point on the Ohio Eiver. The locations of oil 
enterprise in this region are the Muskingum and 
Little Muskingum Elvers, Federal Creek, Wolf 
Creek, and Duck Creek. 

Duck Creek enters the Ohio about a mile above 
Marietta, which is at the mouth of the Muskingum. 
Operations commenced on this Creek in 1860 du- 
ring the first oil excitement in Pennsylvania, and 
several wells were sunk to a depth of from one 
hundred to two hundred feet, and oil in sufficient 
quantity obtained to warrant pumping. The low 
price to which oil fell, and the troubles incident 
to the breaking out of the war, led to the aban- 
donment of all the wells, and the district remained 
(130) 



SOUTHERN OHIO OIL REGION. 131 

undisturbed by oil seekers until a few months 
since. Taking a horse at Marietta and riding 
across the country to the lower part of Duck 
Creek, the visitor soon comes in sight of the 
derricks, old and new, which line the lower part 
of the Creek. The work, past and present, in 
that locality, is of a very primitive character, all 
the boring having been done by the ^'kicking'* 
process, engines being considered too costly. The 
wells are therefore shallow, yielding but a small 
quantity of oil, although of heavy quality. 

About ten miles from Marietta, near Lower 
Salem, the first evidences of active and business- 
like oil enterprise become visible. On the Paw- 
Paw, a small stream flowing into Duck Creek, a 
number of wells are going down, some of them 
having already met with fair success. But it is 
not until reaching Macksburg, about ten miles 
higher up, that the most valuable part of the 
Duck Creek region is reached. Here there are 
several important wells, down to a depth varying 
from eight hundred to eighteen hundred feet, and 
yielding largely. Among the more noticeable are 
the Dixon, Dutton, and Steel wells, all of which 
have proved highly valuable. For several miles 
above Macksburg, Duck Creek is lined with der- 
ricks, over fifty engines being hard at work. The 
surface of the water is covered with floating oil, 
and the whole appearance is strongly suggestive 



132 SOUTHERN OHIO OIL REGION. 

of Oil Creek. The product of the Duck Creek 
region, around and above Macksburg is taken 
across the country, by villainous roads, to Lowell, 
on the Muskingum, about ten miles distant, and 
thence boated down to Marietta. 

Passing up the Muskingum to McConnellsville, 
in Morgan county, another oil region is reached. 
Here the surface indications are unusually rich, 
and several shallow wells have been successfully 
worked. The territory has been extensively 
leased, and some of the companies propose to 
sink deep wells for the purpose of developing the 
value of the lower deposits. 

Wolf Creek enters the Muskingum from the 
South, about midway between McConnellsville 
and Marietta. The oil territory can be reached 
by a ride or walk of five miles from the former 
place. Most of the oil has been obtained at the 
mouth of Buck Eun, on Wolf Creek. The older 
wells are shallow, finding oil from seventy to one 
hundred and twenty feet. Several thousand bar- 
rels have been obtained from this neighborhood. 
The ^-Deep Oil Well'^ was sunk three hundred and 
eighty -five feet, and the memoranda of the boring, 
as furnished by the manager were as follows : 

'^ Found the fossil rock twenty-seven feet below 
the surface. The first oil vein was struck at the 
depth of fifty-three feet, from which were obtained 
thirty five barrels ; second oil-vein one hundred 



SOUTHERN OHIO OIL REGION. 133 

feet from the surface, showing more oil than the 
first, but it Tvas not pumped; third vein, two 
hundred and seventy-five feet, in black shale bitu- 
minous — considerable oil, not pumped; fourth 
vein, three hundred and forty-five feet deep, quite 
a good show in the blue sand-rock — oil all the 
way through that rock, which was thirty-five 
feet thick ; fifth vein was in a blue-black shale. 
Oil was found through this shale, three feet. 
Sixth vein in a blue sand-rock, three hundred 
and seventy-eight feet deep, and within six feet 
of the bottom of the well. Ceased boring at three 
hundred and eighty-five feet, two feet in a white 
sand-rock, caUed thje • salt-rock.' Pumped three 
days and nights, when, by the breaking of the 
seed-bag and pump, after obtaining about ten 
barrels of oil, operation ceased." 

Keeping west from TToLf Creek, the oil terri- 
tory of Federal Creek, in Athens and Morgan 
counties is reached. Here the surface indica- 
tions are also very rich, and the yield from 
shallow weUs has been large, much greater than 
from any other locality of the State. The utmost 
activity is displayed in the work of developing 
the territory, twenty engines being now at work, 
and preparations making for more. The most 
celebrated location is the Joy Farm,, on which 
thirteen wells are down or preparing to go down. 
The oil obtained here has been from a depth of 
12 



134 SOUTHERN OHIO OIL REGION. 

forty to one hundred and twenty feet. Three 
deep wells are going down on the Creek, for the 
purpose of testing the question of the existence 
of '' deep oil.^' Federal Creek enters the Hocking 
Eiver at Federalton. 

These comprise the more important portions 
of the Southern Ohio oil region. Indications are 
found in counties adjoining, but as yet the ex- 
citement is purely speculative, no actual tests of 
the value of the deposits having been made. In 
Scioto, Pike, and Eoss counties, along the Scioto 
Eiver, and especially in Pike county, near Jas- 
per, very heavy petroleum or "mineral tar'' 
distils from the bituminous shale which there 
crops out to a thickness of two hundred and fifty 
feet. The same manifestations are visible in 
Adams county, on the Ohio, just below the 
mouth of the Scioto. The rock is so highly 
charged with petroleum that it burns readily, 
and a large percentage of pure petroleum can be 
extracted from it. Companies have been formed 
for buying the shale rock and distilling the oil 
from it. 



NOETHEEN AND EASTEEN OHIO OIL 
EEGIOXS. 



The oil fields of Butler and Lawrence counties 
in Pennsylvania, which have lately come into 
notice, are continued across the Ohio line into 
Columbiana, Mahoning, and Trumbull counties, 
following the line of the Big and Little Beavers, 
the Mahoning, and other tributary streams. 
Along the Big Beaver and Mahoning there are 
a number of wells, many of them yielding mode- 
rately, but none to any great extent. The wells 
are mostly shallow, especially toward^ the West. 
Experimental wells are going down as far up as 
Warren in Trumbull county. On a small tribu- 
tary that enters the Mahoning from the north is 
the well-known Mecca district that in 1860 and 
1861 was the scene of considerable activity. The 
wells are shallow, averaging fifty feet, and yield 
a very heavy lubricating oil, worth more than 
six times the value of the Pennsylvania illumi- 
nating oils. The yield of the wells is very small, 
four barrels being an extraordinary amount. 

(135J 



136 NORTHERN AND EASTERN OHIO OIL REGION. 

In Columbiana county, on the Little Beaver, is 
the Smith's Ferry district, also the scene of con- 
siderable excitement in 1861, when a number of 
wells were sunk, with but moderate success. The 
tide of oil enterprise has again set towards this 
region, and over twenty wells are in operation, 
some of them obtaining from one to eight barrels 
of oil per day. 

The Eocky, Black, and Vermilion rivers enter- 
ing Lake Erie from Cuyahoga, Lorain, and Me- 
dina counties, have also become the scene of oil 
enterprise, and a number of wells have been put 
down. None have as yet reached the proper 
depth. In 1860-61 several wells were sunk in the 
vicinity of Liverpool, Medina county, and a small 
yield of heavy lubricating oil, similar to that of 
Mecca, obtained at a depth of one hundred to two 
hundred feet. 



THE OIL EEGIONS OF KENTUCKY. 



There ai'e four localities in Kentucky that 
have come into notice as oil territory, namely : 
the Big Sandy, on the Eastern border, and form- 
ing part of the Great Kanawha and Gruyandotte 
Basin of West Yirginia; the Cumberland Eiver 
district in the South, extending into Tennessee; 
the Vanceburg district in Lewis county, opposite 
Adams and Scioto counties in Ohio ; and the 
Green Eiver district, in McLean county. Western 
Kentucky. Of these the best known, and, at 
present, the most developed, is the Big Sandy 
district. 

The point of departure is usually Catlettsburg, 
at the junction of the Big Sandy and the Ohio. 
Steamboats run up to Louisa, a distance of about 
twenty miles, and from that point there is generally 
good skiff navigation, as well as walking or horse- 
back facilities. Blaine's Creek enters the Sandy 
below Louisa, and at the latter point the river 
divides into West Fork and Tug Fork. The river 
12* (137) 



138 THE OIL REGIONS OF KENTUCKY. 

and its tributaries have long been known as pro- 
ductive of oil, the surface of the streams being fre- 
quently discolored with patches of floating oil, 
arising from oil springs in the bed of the stream 
and in the pools adjacent. For many years this 
surface oil was gathered in large quantities, and 
used for various domestic and medical purposes. 
In 1859 and 1860 a number of shallow wells were 
sunk along the valley, all being put down by hand, 
and reaching the depth of from one hundred to two 
hundred feet. None of them were pumped, the 
breaking out of the war putting an effectual stop to 
oil operations in Kentucky. In most of the wells 
bored, and in some old salt wells in the valley, 
the flow of oil into the well from veins cut, gave 
assurance of good returns on the investment, had 
the condition of the country allowed the prosecu- 
tion of the enterprise. Near the Big Burning 
Springs, on a branch of the Licking Eiver, head- 
ing near Paintville in the Sandy Valley, a well 
was bored to the depth of one hundred and 
seventy-three feet. A column of oil and gas was 
thrown up and continued to flow for days. Be- 
fore the necessary machinery could be procured 
to work the well, the war commenced, and the 
well was left to blow itself out. 

In the vicinity of Paintville, near the junction 
of Paint Creek with the West Pork of the Big 
Sandy several wells were put down in 1861 with 



THE OIL REGIONS OF KENTUCKY. 139 

fair prospect of success had the work been con- 
tinued. The land in the neighborhood has now 
been leased by Eastern and Northern capitalists, 
and the preliminary work for sinking numerous 
wells has been commenced. The whole line of 
the river and its tributaries has been " prospected '^ 
by speculators, uj) as far as it is safe to go for the 
guerillas who still prowl around Southwestern 
Virginia and the Kentucky border. 

The Cumberland Eiver district is on the river 
in Cumberland county, near the Tennessee line. 
The whole valley for many miles is rich in indi- 
cations of oil, and for many years the existence of 
oil has been known in the neighborhood. About 
three miles above Burksville, in Cumberland 
county, is the celebrated ^'American Oil Well," 
the history of which is narrated in JViles's Register 
for 1829. From that account we learn that 
during that year whilst some men were boring 
for salt water, and after j)enetrating about one 
hundred and seventy-five feet through a solid 
rock, they struck a vein of oil which suddenly 
spouted up to the height of fifty feet above the 
surface. The stream was so abundant and of 
such force as to continue to throw up the oil to 
tbe same height for several days. The oil thus 
thrown out ran into the Cumberland Eiver, cover- 
ing the surface of the river for several miles. It 
was readily supposed to be inflammable, and ujion 



140 THE OIL REGIONS OF KENTUCKY. 

its being ignited it presented the novel and mag- 
nificent spectacle of a ''river on fire^^' the flames 
literally covering the whole surface for miles, 
reaching to the top of the tallest trees on the 
banks of the river, and continued burning until 
the supply of oil was exhausted. The workmen 
abandoned the well in disgust. 

In 1860 four firms from Virginia came into the 
neighborhood of the old well, and commenced 
boring for oil. Fine shows of oil w^ere obtained, 
and the work of pumping was ready to be com- 
menced, when the rebellion broke out, and the 
wells were abandoned. Some of the parties en- 
gaged in the enterprise in 1860, have returned to 
the spot, and recommenced work. They have 
been followed by others, and preparations are 
making for a vigorous summer campaign. The 
oil of this district is about 35° in density. 

Burksville is about two hundred and fifty miles 
above Nashville, has good steamboat navigation 
for boats of five hundred to six hundred tons 
burden for half the year and flat-boat navigation 
for the remainder of the year. To visitors from 
the North the nearest railroad point is Horse 
Cave, 45 miles distant^ on the Louisville and Nash- 
ville Eailroad. The present travelled route, from 
Louisville, is via. Louisville and Nashville Eail- 
road, eighty-three miles to Cave City, stage twelve 
miles to Glasgow, and thence forty miles, on horse- 



THE OIL REGIONS OF KENTUCKY 141 

back, to Burksville. Another route is by rail, fifty 
miles to Lebanon, by stage forty miles over a turn- 
pike to Columbia, and thence thirtj' miles on horse- 
back. 

The Green Elver district has hitherto met with 
but little attention, but a movement has now set 
strongly in that direction. In 1861 a well was 
put down near Calhoun, McLean county, to the 
depth of one hundred and thirty feet, and aban- 
doned on the approach of the rebel forces. Louis- 
ville parties have now taken the old well and are 
pumping about two barrels of heavy lubricating 
oil daily. A number of mineral tar springs are 
scattered along the line of G-reen Eiver. 

The Lewis county district is a continuation of 
the oil region of Adams, Scioto, Pike, and Eoss 
counties in Ohio, and the manifestations are simi- 
lar. Bituminous shale, heavily charged with thick 
petroleum, crops out, and considerable deposits of 
thick oil have been found. About fifty engines 
are working, or being set up, in the neighborhood 
of Yanceburg. 



OIL m OTHEE STATES. 



Considerable excitement on the subject of oil 
has broken out in Indiana, and large tracts of land 
have been taken up for the purpose of boring. As 
yet, no producing wells exist in the State, suflS- 
cient time for properly testing the value of the 
lands as oil territory not having elapsed. The 
presumed oil regions of Indiana are situated at 
some distance from each other. The most favor- 
ably located region is in the southern part of the 
State, bordering on the Ohio Eiver, and being 
apparently a continuation of the Green Eiver dis- 
trict of Kentucky. The counties included in this 
district are Harrison, Dubois, Martin, Perry, Craw- 
ford, and Orange. 

In Northwestern Indiana no attempts have yet 
been made to test the alleged existence of oil in 
considerable quantity, the excitement existing in 
Jasper, Newton, Benton, and Fountain counties, 
being purely speculative. Whether oil exists 
there to any extent remains to be proved. 

Indications of oil exist in the States of Illinois, 
(142) 



OIL IN OTHER STATES. 143 

Iowa, Missouri, and Michigan, and some attempts 
have been made to test the productiveness of the 
supposed deposits. At the present time no satis- 
factory results have been reached, the experiments 
not having had sufficient time for proper devel- 
opment. 

In Western Xew York the indications of oil are 
very promising. In Alleghany, Cattaraugus, and 
Chautauqua counties, a number of experimental 
wells are going down, with variable prospects of 
success. 

Oil is also reported in Eastern New York and 
Connecticut; in Oregon, Utah, and California. 
In Canada it has been produced for three or four 
years, and lately it has been reported in Mexico. 
There appears to be as little limit to its field of 
production as there is to its usefulness. 



INYBSTMENTS IN OIL WELLS. 



In the history of the commercial and industrial 
interests of the world there is to be found no com- 
plete parallel to the circumstances connected with 
the discovery of petroleum and the development 
of its uses. Other important agents have been 
discovered, but their value was not readily per- 
ceived, and their extensive adoption has been the 
result of long years of experiment. Six jears 
more than covers the entire history of petroleum, 
so far as the industrial world is concerned. Pre- 
vious to that time it had slumbered deep in earth, 
floated unnoticed on the surface of stagnant pools, 
or dripped unheeded from the rock. Now it has 
become an article of necessity everywhere. It 
forms one of the great staples of commerce. New 
branches of manufacture have been created by its 
aid, and those already in existence have received 
additional impetus. It furnishes employment to 
the workman and cheerful light to his home. 
Thousands of wheels that otherwise would have 
(144) 



INVESTMENTS IN OIL WELLS. 145 

remained idle, have been set in motion, and tens 
of thousands of busy arms kept employed by its 
agency. Since the discovery of the uses of steam 
no event of similar importance has occurred in 
the industrial world. But the introduction of 
steam into general use was a work of many years. 
Prejudices and motives of interest were opponents 
against which the new-born power had to wage a 
long and fierce contest before its rights were 
acknowledged. 

Petroleum had no such opposition to contend 
with. The want existed before the means of 
supplying it was discovered. The supply of fish 
and animal oils was yearly diminishing, whilst the 
demand was yearly increasing. The question as 
to the source from w^hich the illuminating and 
lubricating agents were henceforth to be obtained 
had become so important as to tax the minds of 
the leading scientific men in the search for a 
satisfactory answer. At that moment petroleum 
became known and its value was immediately 
investigated. For every purpose in which fish, 
animal, and most of the vegetable oils were used, 
petroleum was found more serviceable and in- 
comparably cheaper. Its adoption for those pur- 
poses immediately followed, and experiments 
proving its possession of valuable properties not 
found in other oils, the demand became propor- 
tionately greater, far exceeding the supply. 
13 K 



146 INVESTMENTS IN OIL WELLS. 

The extraordinary success of the pioneers in oil 
mining, the immense returns frequently resulting 
from small expenditures, and the high value of 
the product, created by the rapidly increasing 
demand, soon turned public attention to the sub- 
ject, and capital was freely invested in oil enter- 
prises. Some of these were failures, but the prizes 
won were so enormous in proportion to the stakes 
that the occasional disasters were wholly lost sight 
of, or served but as warnings against some par- 
ticular location or mode of working. The mani- 
fest folly of risking the entire means of an indi- 
vidual on the hazard of a single well yielding oil 
led to the establishment of joint-stock companies 
for the prosecution of the enterprise, and the 
eagerness with which their shares were taken 
up soon multiplied these companies to an enor- 
mous extent. In the Spring of 1864 several new 
companies were organized. During the Summer 
and Autumn their increase was rapid, and in the 
Winter of that year, and Spring of 1865, new 
companies were organized dailj^ in the leading 
cities. To give their present number would be 
useless, when every day brings an addition. 

Of course very many of these companies have 
no real value. Their lands, where any title to 
lands really exists, have no indication of the pres- 
ence of oil in quantities to warrant boring. The 
only object of their existence was the creation of 



INVESTMENTS IN OIL WELLS. 14t 

shares to be sold at a profit by the sharp-witted 
projectors. The originators of such companies 
are moral swindlers, and only evade the legal 
responsibilities of actual swindling by the inge- 
nuity with which their " prospectuses " are framed. 
On close examination it will be found that, al- 
though apparently asserting the value of their 
lands as oil territory and promising that rich re- 
sults will follow their working, they in reality 
assert nothing and promise nothing. They '' keep 
the word of promise to our ear, and break it to 
our hope." 

Of the remaining companies, organized in good 
faith, a large proportion will probable meet either 
with failure or but small success. It can scarcely 
be otherwise when it is considered that in their 
anxiety to get possession of lands in which oil 
is supposed to exist, many of these companies 
have been compelled to purchase partially or 
wholly undeveloped property, the sole induce- 
ment being the existence of one or two good 
wells on the same stream, although several miles 
distant. Some companies will, as in manj^ pre 
vious instances, prove mines of wealth, whilst 
others will yield a good business percentage on 
the investment. 

The '^oil fever" that at present pervades all 
ranks and classes in the United States, and is 
spreading to other lands, has been comj)ared to 



148 INVESTMENTS IN OIL WELLS. 

the South Sea Scheme, Law's Mississippi bubble, 
and the Morus Multicaulis excitement. It differs 
from all of these in the important particular that 
it is based on an actual fact, of proportions so 
gigantic that it serves as an excuse for the most 
extravagant anticipations of those interested. 
The cases cited w^ere essentially bubbles, wholl}^ 
speculative and based on a supposititious state of 
affairs. With the first breath of distrust the 
bubble burst, and not a vestige was left of the 
magnificent schemes save the ruined fortunes of 
their believers. That the present inflation will, 
sooner or later, be followed by a corresponding 
collapse, must be expected. Hundreds of com- 
panies will go down beneath the crash, and sink 
in merited oblivion. With them will go many 
enterprises deserving a better fate, but which 
will be unable to stem the downward tide. Even 
those which are well established and have given 
proof of their solvency and reliability will proba- 
bly suffer for a time, but in the end will rise to 
their legitimate position. 

The only instance in the speculative excite- 
ments of the past at all resembling the ^' oil 
fever" of the present day was the English '< rail- 
way mania'' of 1845. The success of the railways 
then existing stimulated investment in similar 
enterprises to such an extent as to create a 
species of insanity for the formation of railway 



INVESTMENTS IN OIL WELLS. 149 

companies and the j)ossession of railway shares. 
Lines of the most absurd and impossible character 
w^ere projected and found ready sale for their 
shares. Of course the delirium ended at last, and 
with returning sanity came the extinction of 
hundreds of companies and the ruin of thousands 
of people. But the real value and importance of 
railways remained unimpaired, for there was a 
solid basis on which the speculative sujDerstruc- 
ture had been erected, and the past twenty years 
have seen the rapid and permanent growth of a 
railway system but little inferior in extent to the 
wild dreams of 1845. 

That this will be the case with the petroleum 
interests of the United States cannot be doubted. 
The business which in six years has grown from 
nothingness to its present gigantic proportions 
cannot be seriously injured even by a great panic, 
should such an event occur. It has been woven 
so closely and thoroughly into our daily life that 
the demand must continue to increase. Prom 
Maine to California it lights our dw^ellings, lubri- 
cates our machinery, and is indispensible in nu- 
merous departments of arts, manufactures., and 
domestic life. To be deprived of it now would 
be setting us back a whole cycle of civilization. 
To doubt the increased sphere of its usefulness 
would be to lack faith in the progress of the 
world. To fear the exhaustion or diminution of 
13* 



150 INVESTMENTS IN OIL WELLS. 

its supply would be to doubt the beneficence of 
the Providence that never makes known a bene- 
fit to man for the purpose of distressing him by 
its withdrawal. 

A noticeable feature in the history of the petro- 
leum business of the United States is the peculiar 
period at which it made its appearance, and the 
important part it has played in our national 
affairs. At the time when we were struggling 
to maintain our existence at an enormous cost, 
when the balance of trade with Europe was 
against us, and the shipments of gold were drain- 
ing the life-blood of our commerce, a sudden and 
unexpected trade sprung up in the article of 
petroleum. From a few thousand gallons in 
1861 the annual exports from the United States 
increased in 1864 to nearly thirty-two million 
gallons, the value of the shipments for the past 
two years amounting to over thirty millon dol- 
lars, thus materially reducing the export of gold 
and increasing the prosperity of the country by 
this means, as well as by stimulating industry 
within the national borders. This was effected 
by the employment of superabundant capital and 
the development of lands that had hitherto been 
considered valueless. To facilitate the work rail- 
ways have been built and are building, which 
would not have been constructed but for the ex- 
istence of petroleum, but which will prove of 



INVESTMilNTS IN OIL WELLS. 151 

great value in opening up neglected territory, 
enhancing the value of lands, and at the same 
time be profitable investments in themselves. 

A word of caution with regard to investments 
in oil lands and oil stocks will not be out of place. 
It is well to remember that " all is not gold that 
glitters/' and the "good thing" which the plau- 
sible " projector" attempts to induce you to invest 
in, may be a good thing for A//?i, but a bad thing 
for you. Before investing, see that the parties 
directly interested are responsible and honorable 
men. That is not all. Good and honorable men 
are sometimes prominently connected with enter- 
prises of which they personally know nothing, 
trusting to the representations of some other 
person directly interested. Ascertain that point 
before risking the money you may never see 
again. With regard to the particular section of 
country in which to invest, no other advice can 
be given than that it is, as a general rule, safer 
to put money into property w^here paying wells 
already exist — should such property be in the 
market — than in wholly untried country. At 
the same time, where the real value of the pro- 
perty is unknown, the stakes are smaller, and the 
prizes, if found at all, proportionately larger. It 
by no means follows that because one well has 
proved a great success, another sunk in its neigh- 
borhood will also be fortunate, although the 



152 INVESTMENTS IN OIL AVELLS. 

enormous increase in the value of land for miles 
around a successful well immediately after the 
^^ strike " seems to prove the generality of that 
belief. At the same time, there is better hope of 
obtaining oil when surrounded by yielding wells 
than if encompassed by '^ dry holes/' 

That considerable sharp practice is frequently 
connected with the formation of oil companies 
and disposition of the shares is to be supposed. 
Sharp-witted men do not work for nothing, and 
such men have found a rich harvest in the oil 
speculations of the j)i'esent day. A man of this 
class goes into the oil territory, finds a patch of 
land suited for his purpose, and engages to buy 
it at five or six times its real value, paying from 
twenty-five to one hundred dollars as deposit, 
and agreeing to pay the balance on a certain day, 
or forfeit his deposit. He then endeavors to dis- 
pose of it to a party of fellow speculators at 
twenty-five to fifty per cent, advance. These 
again put it into a stock company of, say, $100,000, 
"reserving $25,000 as working capital." The re- 
maining $75,000 of stock is divided among the 
^' partners on first principles,'' as pay for the land, 
so that if the stock sells freely at a fair figure, a 
handsome profit is divided. It is a common 
practice for the projecters of a company to con- 
nect a large amount of undeveloped land with 
an interest in some dividend-paying well as "a 



INVESTMENTS IN OIL WELLS. 153 

sweetener/' In some cases this proves a good 
thing for the stockholder, and in other cases he 
is ''sweetened." 

Frauds are not unfrequently perpetrated by 
'^planting" oil in dry wells. Some notable in- 
stances of this have been made public, in which 
the contrivances were of the most elaborate 
character. The petroleum interest is no more 
accountable for such crimes than society is 
chargeable with the guilt of the occasional pick- 
pocket or burglar. 

In conclusion, invest no more money in oil- 
wells, or in any other speculative business, than 
you can lose without being crippled in resources 
If able to spare the means, examine closely, judge 
carefully, then invest boldly and await the result 
with patience, with our wishes that you may 
"strike oil." 



THE END. 



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